


I love you more than donuts

by zarlie_enthusiast



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Smut, Soulmates, zarlie endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-03-08 03:59:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18886747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarlie_enthusiast/pseuds/zarlie_enthusiast
Summary: Zari Tomaz thinks she's straight, until she meets Charlie.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and thanks to everyone willing to read this fic.  
> I'll start by saying I've got inspired to write this AU after the infamous "You're straight?" Zarlie scene.  
> This is going to be a short and lighthearted story in which Zari realizes she's not as straight as she thought and falls in love with Charlie.  
> The title it's something a certain someone will say towards the end of the story.  
> The pov will shift often between Zari and Charlie.  
> The mature rating will make sense in the upcoming chapters.  
> I'll update at least once a week.  
> Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!

“I can't believe I let you drag me here.”

Zari Tomaz snorted as she grabbed her new mat. Not that she ever had a fitness mat before.  
This was the one Ray bought for her after he convinced her to try at least one pilates lesson. 

“Give it an hour and you'll be thanking me for dragging you here.”

That typical optimistic smile shone on Ray's face, making it almost impossible not to believe him.  
He had spent the last month shoveling all the perks of his new favorite activity down everybody's throat.  
Something like this happened every couple of months.  
He would find some new class at the gym, become obsessed with it and try to convince all of his friends to join. Usually Nate was the only one who promptly agreed, but he had been pretty busy lately.  
So Zari accepted to go, but only to shut him up. They made a pact. She agreed to go to one lesson and if she didn't like it, he would shut up for good about it and every other fitness obsession from that moment on. Plus, she made him promise her they would have donuts right after. So it would be worth it. 

“I wouldn't count on that.”

Zari rolled her eyes and got ready to unroll her mat.  
She didn't have the slightest idea of what to expect from the next hour. This was something she had never done before, but how difficult could it be? 

______________________

“Have you met me? This is not the place for me. You'll regret ever inviting me here.”

“You said you needed something to release some stress. This is the right place for that. Pilates is both relaxing and energizing.”

“I meant something like ‘introduce me to one of your friends’. Shagging releases stress, not this.”

Ava shook her head as a reply to her friend remark. She was used to it, but she was sure the discipline of pilates would help Charlie to get in control of her impulsive side, which was the reason of her current stressful situation.

“How am I supposed to shut up for a whole hour? I'll probably get kicked out of the class. Don't say I haven't warned you.”

Charlie looked around at all the people gathering for the lesson. Ava must have been high on something to think she would like this kind of stuff. 

“Stop complaining. At least give it a try!”

______________________

“Hi Ray. Zari, what are you doing here?” 

“See? Even Ava is surprised to see me here” 

She threw an exasperated look at Ray. She wasn't actually mad at him. She knew he truly believed this lesson would help her cope with any stressful aspects of her life, but that wasn't going to stop her from complaining all the time.

“He forced me” she added as an explanation, pointing at the tall one. 

“Apparently I'm not the only one who's been forced to be here.”

Charlie dropped in the conversation, even though she didn't know who Ava's friends were. She's never been a shy girl. She was used to always say whatever came to her mind. 

“Nope, you're not.” 

“At least I'm in good company.” 

Charlie allowed her eyes to check out the girl standing in front of her.  
Whoever Ava's friend was, she was hot. Maybe this lesson wouldn't be a waste of time after all. That's what she was thinking as she smirked slightly. 

Zari didn't reply to that comment. It was actually a really innocent comment, but something about the tone of her voice and the way the girl was looking at her made her inexplicably blush. 

“Anyway, Charlie, this are Sara's friends, Zari and Ray. Zari, Ray, this is my annoying friend Charlie.”

“Nice to meet you, Charlie.”

Ava only had time to introduce them to each other, before the teacher finally came in.  
It was a twenty-something woman who introduced herself as Kendra and invited them all to take a seat on their mats. 

“I'm already bored.”

Zari heard a voice whisper at her side. She somehow ended up between Charlie and Ray.  
She retained a laugh as Ava reproached Charlie with a sharp, eloquent look. She clearly didn't want Charlie to embarrass her in front of the entire class she attended regularly. 

Everybody was sitting cross-legged on their mats, listening to the teacher's instructions.  
Something like focusing on the right kind of breathing. It didn't make much sense to either Charlie or Zari.  
Everybody around them seemed to have already dropped in that kind of conscious breathing Kendra was talking about. Some people even had their eyes closed. 

Zari looked at her right, then at her left.  
Ray was so tall that she wondered how could he possibly sit like that. She couldn't even imagine how awkward he would look once they started moving. She was pretty sure every mat in the world would be too short for him. 

Ava, on the other side, was so focused that it looked like she was on a different dimension. For some reason Zari wasn't surprised she liked this kind of practices. She was all about discipline and rules to follow. Only Sara was shaking her up a bit lately. 

Charlie was between her and Ava. She turned her gaze toward Zari the moment she noticed the girl was looking in her direction. She gave her a flirty look and the Muslim girl immediately turned her gaze back to the teacher.  
She tried to slow down her breathing, finding herself incapable of focus. 

After what appeared to be hours, but were actually a couple of minutes, the teacher finally announced they would start moving. At that point Zari was so bored, she was almost glad to do something.  
But that was when the troubles began. 

“We'll then stretch a little in downward facing dog, a yoga pose that's great for pilates too.”

Zari turned around trying to understand what she was supposed to do. She never would have imagined pilates would include something like that. How was all this supposed to be relaxing? 

“Try to straighten your legs, but don't force it” the teacher was saying as she comfortably twisted her body in that position.  
In the mid-time, Zari was hating Ray for bringing her there. What was she thinking when she agreed to?  
Her wrists had started to hurt, her legs were refusing to straighten. That pose was everything but relaxing.

“Nope, I can't straighten my legs. Not even that part of my body is straight.”  
Charlie was joking as she struggled as well with that pose. As all beginners do, according to what the teacher was saying.  
“How can you talk upside down?” Zari couldn't help but groaning. She just wanted the lesson to be over already. 

“I can do a lot of things, love.”  
Charlie replied in her distinctive British accent and an unmistakably flirty tone.  
She always had a lot of fun low-key - or not that low-key - flirting with everyone she found even remotely attractive. And she found that girl really attractive. She even hoped she could ask her out after the lesson.  
The thought of having a chance at sleeping with that girl was the only thing that was making that hour bearable and not completely boring.  
Except for seeing a giant man twisting his body like that. That was pretty entertaining as well. 

The moment Charlie ended her provocative sentence, Zari hand slipped on the mat and she found herself falling.  
It ultimately happened. She made a fool of herself.  
“Oh dear Beebo! Zari, are you okay?”  
A worried Ray was asking. His eyes widened with preoccupation. So much that Zari contemplated the idea of pretending to have a broken bone so he would feel guilty for annoying the shit out of her until she finally agreed to that lesson. But even Zari wasn't that mean. Nobody would be able to purposely make that man with the biggest heart suffer. 

“I'm fine” she said quickly, sitting on her knees.  
And that was the moment she realized Charlie was laughing out loud, while everybody else was staring toward the back, where they were.  
“I'm fine, everybody. Just go on doing your thing.”  
She reassured the worried and curious looks.  
Her arms and wrists were hurting a little, but her ego was hurting definitely more. 

“That was the funniest thing I've ever seen. I wish I had that on video.”  
Charlie said in complete amusement.  
Zari stared coldly at her. An annoyed, irritated stare that encased everything she was feeling in that moment.  
“Then you should try to remember that, cause this is the last time you're gonna see me here.  
I'm sorry, Ray, but this is not for me.”

She got up and rushed out of the door, leaving her mat on the floor.  
She wouldn't even mind the humiliation - anybody can slip and fall, right? - but Charlie's reaction was the thing that made it so annoying and irritating for her. There was something about Ava's friend that was able to get under her skin. 

After wearing her shoes again, she decided she deserved those donuts Ray promised her to get her to go there.  
So she went to the bar across the street and bought a box of all kind of donuts.  
She sat on a bench in the locker room and started to enjoy them while she waited for Ray.  
She was halfway through her first one, when someone entered the room. 

“I gave up too. That shit's too complicated and boring for me.”

It was Charlie. And somehow she assumed Zari would want to start a conversation. Wasn't it clear she was busy savoring her donuts?  
“I'm glad at least I amused you” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes before taking another bite of her glazed donut.

“That was the highlight of the lesson.”  
Charlie smirked as she sat on the bench in front of the girl. One foot on the floor, the other on the bench. Her back laying against the lockers. She could never sit properly.  
“Are you going to share those?”  
She pointed at the box full of donuts. And at the same time she stared with amusement at the image in front of her. Zari really looked like she was making out with that donut. 'She must be a good kisser' Charlie thought as she stared at the girl's mouth. 

“Nope. I don't share donuts with people who make fun of me.”  
Zari's voice brought her back to her senses.  
“Okay then. I was planning on giving something in return though.”  
Her flirting voice was back.  
“What? I might consider it.”  
“My number.”

Zari almost choked on her donut. She coughed a couple of times before being able to breathe again.  
Was Charlie really flirting with her? Did she think she was gay? Of course she was not offended by that. It just never occurred to her mind that Charlie could hit on her. She was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, while she thought of herself as an average beauty.  
Even if she was gay, Charlie would clearly have been out of her league. 

“Deal. I'm straight, but I could use your number to let you know multiple times a day how rude it was for you to laugh at me.”  
She managed to keep a straight face while she spoke, before nonchalantly getting back to her donut. 

“You're straight?” 

Charlie asked in disbelief with a skeptical tone in her voice. Her gaydar had never been wrong before.  
Either this was a first or the girl in front of her wasn't yet aware of her own sexuality. She clearly hoped for the latter, because she was incredibly attracted to this woman she had met only a few minutes ago. 

“Yep, I'm boringly straight.” 

“Seriously? I was getting a totally different vibe and my gaydar has never failed me before.”

Charlie was still confused. She was not used to being wrong on this kind of things, but of course if Zari said she was straight she wouldn't doubt that any further.

“Your gaydar must be broken then.  
Here, take a donut. Sugar should fix it.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Come on, it wasn't that bad—”

Ray said as they were having lunch in the office at Palmer's Tech the next day. 

“It wasn't that bad? Seriously?” 

Zari was still pretending to be mad at him. And she partially was, but she actually liked the donuts part of her brief pilates adventure. 

“Besides, you promised me you would shut up about it if I gave it a try, so shut up.”

“Okay, I will. A deal is a deal.”  
“Good.”  
She attacked her sandwich again.  
“Anyway, Ava's friend was really annoying.”

“Charlie? She seemed nice.”  
“Everybody seems nice to you, Ray" she pointed out the truth.  
Ray was the most positive person she knew, always seeing the good in people. 

“You didn't look annoyed when you were eating donuts with her though.”

“That was the power of donuts.”  
She sentenced in all seriousness, before adding: “Besides, she tried to hit on me, so I was just being nice in appreciation of her good taste.”

“She hit on you? Really? Do you like her?”  
“I told you, she's annoying, she laughed when I fell. And I'm straight.”  
“Uhm”. 

Zari decided to momentarily ignore the doubt in Ray's voice, so she could keep eating her sandwich.

She didn't want to talk to her friend about how she was thinking about that moment since it happened the day before. She didn't even know why she felt so good about Charlie trying to hit on her.  
It was not like she could reciprocate the feeling. She had always liked guys, even though she hadn't date many. Or maybe none.

“Why does everybody think I lie when I say I'm straight?” 

“Well… You did had an obsession with our very attractive physics professor when we were in college.”

“What? That was clearly because I was fascinated by the subject she taught!” 

“That's exactly what I thought before I realized I'm bi. I always thought I only admired my high school math teacher, but truth was I was crushing on him all along.”

Zari liked how open minded her friends were.  
She liked the idea she would never have to be afraid to talk to them about anything, because they would always support her and understand her no matter what.  
That thought would have been very encouraging if she was actually gay or bi or pan or anything else, but she was straight.  
This of course didn't make her any less grateful for the amazing people she was surrounded with. Not that she would ever say that out loud. 

“And it's amazing how you finally figured that out, Ray, but I'm tragically heterosexual.”  
“Tragically cause men are trash, right?”  
“That's right.”

She was also extremely grateful she had male friends who didn't feel attacked by that kind of sentences cause they knew it was not about them. Maybe that was why she never had a boyfriend.  
She had high standards. How could she ever find someone who was as great as their best friends?  
That was the reason why she didn't even bother dating.  
Why would she let herself open up to someone only to find out they were dicks that would break her heart? She preferred playing it safe.  
You can't have your heart broken if you don't allow yourself to be in love with someone. 

She could barely remember when was the last time she had sex. It happened more than a year ago, when she hooked up with that sexy cowboy who was visiting town.  
She had never had serious relationships but she didn't hook up a lot with strangers either.  
She was mostly just happy with herself. 

“Gotta go back to work, boss. See ya later.”

_______________

Every Thursday night Charlie and her closest friends used to meet at one of their places.  
This week, it was Charlie's turn to host the evening in her small apartment, that was located over her pub. 

Everybody who didn't knew Charlie would wonder how it was even possible for a single person to create such a mess, but she was chaos — as she liked to say every time someone pointed that out. She didn't care about tidying up her place. She was more focused on actually living her life, instead of obsessing over how many unclean dishes were in the sink.  
Once a week though she used to hire someone to clean up her mess and that was why that evening her place was all clean and ready to host their girls nights. 

They all insisted on still calling it a girls night, even though Gary attended as well. But he never made a fuss about it. He said he liked being included.  
And how could he not?  
He was Ava's best friend and automatically became Charlie and Ava's friend as well. It's not like they did have a choice. Even though they couldn't suffer him at first, they slowly became fond of him. 

Mona on the other hand was the latest addition to their pack.  
She started working for Ava three months ago and basically invited herself to one of their nights together. She immediately got along with Gary and that's how they started to invite her as well. 

Rosé and snacks were already on the little table between the two couches Charlie had in her living room.  
She didn't think she would need two couches when she first moved in, but she had to buy a second one to keep hosting their evenings together after their group grew larger.  
That was why the couches were unmatched. 

“It's been five minutes and you're already texting your girlfriend?” Nora teased Ava before sipping her rosé. Ava had met Sara, who was her client, more than a year ago and as soon as they stopped seeing each other for work related stuff, they became a couple.  
Everybody was happy for Ava's new relationship, but this didn't stopped Nora and Charlie from messing with her anytime she let her soft side out. 

“What? She sent me a funny meme.”  
“Really? It looked like you two were sexting.”  
Charlie inevitably laughed as Ava's cheeks went bright red.  
“Consider this payback for yesterday.”  
She joked, even though she was not exactly mad at her for introducing her to Zari. She said she was straight, but that didn't mean Charlie wouldn't enjoy having another friend to tease every now and then. 

“Payback? You were in for like five minutes before bailing out and eat donuts with Sara's friend.”  
“Yeah, that part wasn't that bad. Apparently she's straight though.”

“Oh I'm so sorry, Charlie!" said Mona, who was always ready to support her new friends.  
Charlie shaked her off with one of her jokes.  
It was not like this Zari was the only girl in the world. 

“It's fine. I'd like to meet her again though. She was fun to tease.”  
“Please, don't piss off Sara's friends! I don't wanna be forced to choose between you and my girlfriend.”  
“Don't worry, Sharpy. Everybody loves me.”  
She jokingly assured her friend, before being caught herself on the phone. 

It didn't take long for her to find Zari between Sara's followed and she stalked her Instagram for about ten minutes, but she didn't follow her. She didn't want to appear like a crazy stalker who couldn't take a no for an answer. 

When the night was almost over, she received a message. From Zari of all people.  
She was both surprised and curious as she read it.

«I have an idea.»  
Charlie frowned and quickly typed an answer.  
«Is it good or bad?»  
«It's very good. Even tasty, I might say.»  
«Shoot.»  
«We should meet and eat donuts outside Ava and Ray's class every time they go. Just to piss them off.»  
«I like the idea, mate. Falling is not the only good thing you can do after all.»  
«Rude. Next time the donuts are on you.» 

“Who is the one who's constantly on the phone now?”  
Ava's voice brought her back into the room. She hadn't realized she had completely zoned out. 

“Are you smiling, Charlie?” Here came Nora teasing.  
“What?” She hadn't even realized she was so obviously smiling at her phone. What was happening to her? 

“Oh my Beebo! Do you have a date?” There it was, Gary's enthusiasm.  
“I bet it's someone from Tinder.” Ava said.

“Actually, it was Zari.”  
“Ava's friend? Omg. I already have the ship name. Zarlie!”  
“Slow down, Mona.”

“What did she say?” Ava looked genuinely curious.  
“You'll find out Saturday morning.”  
“Saturday morning? That's when I have my next class. Will you two give it a second chance?”  
“You wish.”

Charlie really thought that pissing off their friends eating donuts wasn't the greatest idea ever.  
Actually, she thought they wouldn't be pissed at all, but she agreed to do that anyway. Why did it feel like Zari was looking for an excuse to see her? Or was she only hoping? Maybe she was pranking her for revenge?  
She literally couldn't wait to find out. 

_______________

Every Thursday night, Zari used to hang out with her best friend Sara.  
It was basically the only night the blonde wasn't busy with her girlfriend, so they were free to hang out like they did quite often before Sara became a monogamist. 

Zari was in Sara’s apartment, waiting for her to get ready.  
She was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, munching on some chips as her friend decided what to wear. 

“You know, I met one of Ava's friend yesterday.”  
She dropped that information into the conversation with nonchalance. 

“Yeah? Who?” Sara asked distractly as she kept looking through the clothes in her closet.  
“Charlie.”  
“Did she hit on you too?”  
Zari choked on her chips. 

“What?”  
“Oh, she flirts with everybody. I think she finds it entertaining.”  
“Oh. And here I was thinking I was special.” 

Zari hoped the irony in her voice would cover up her disappointment.  
Why was she even disappointed though? It's not like she liked her back. She was actually very annoying.

“Wait. Did you like her?”  
“What? No. It was sarcasm, Sara.” She went back to eating her chips.  
“Besides, you know I'm tragically straight.  
It's the second time I have to say it today. Why do you and Ray think I could actually like Charlie?”  
“Well, you were the one who mentioned her.”  
“I was just saying…” 

 

“I wouldn't have ever imagined Ava had a friend like Charlie. They're completely different.”  
“It's the third time you've mentioned her tonight.”  
“What? No, that's impossible.”  
“It's very possible since it happened, girl.”

Zari had no idea why she kept thinking and talking about that girl. Was it because she was too pissed at her?  
“Okay, I'll stop talking about Ava's friend, but I was just pointing out that Charlie is basically Ava's opposite.”  
She shrugged and took a sip of her non alcoholic drink. 

“Okay… When was the last time you had a crush?”  
“What? Why are you asking?”  
She was sincerely confused about that question. What had that to do with what they were talking about?  
“Cause you're obviously crushing on her. I wouldn't blame you though. She's hot.”

The insinuation in Sara's voice and the expression on her face made her somehow feel exposed. Which was crazy because she didn't have a crush on anyone, let alone that annoying girl she shared donuts with. 

“Yeah, she's hot, I'll give her that, but I'm not into girls.”  
Why did it feel like she was lying even though she was not?  
“That's exactly what I thought before Nyssa.”

That sentence made Zari chest do a weird thing. There was this odd feeling in her belly and she didn't know how to shake it off.  
She stayed quiet for a little while, gazing toward the stage where a band was playing. 

Zari wasn't used to feel those kind of things.  
She never really questioned her sexuality because she thought she already knew she was straight.  
But what if she was not? What if Sara was right? What if there was this whole part of herself she didn't really know yet?  
She had no idea how long had passed since she zoned out, but then she found her voice again. 

“How did you know you liked her?”  
Sara was one of the few people Zari knew she could trust with everything. She knew her best friend would do anything she could to help her. 

“That's easy. I was constantly thinking about the next time I would see her.”  
All Zari did in response was nodding with a pensive look on her face.  
For a very long time she thought about the conversation they just had, until something crazy came to her mind. 

“I think I'm gonna text her. I'll ask her to eat more donuts.”  
She couldn't even believe what came out of her mouth.  
“Zari Tomaz, if I didn't know you better I would think you're drunk.”

“Shut up before I change my mind.”  
She took a deep breath, then she carefully wrote that text.  
“It's done.” She stated when the brief conversation via text was over.

“I'm so proud of you, girl. You have a date!”  
“Wait, what?”  
Zari instantly panicked. What had she done? Charlie wouldn't think it was a date, right? That was not what she intended to do.  
She was just trying to figure out how she felt. She wouldn't want to lead Charlie on. 

“You asked her to eat out? The two of you alone, right?”  
“Damn Beebo! What have I done?”  
She was feeling a weird mixture of panic and excitement. She wasn't used to those kind of feelings. 

“Slow down. Let me see the texts.”  
She quickly handed her her phone.  
“Okay, maybe she bought you only asked her to piss Ray off.”  
“You really believe that?”  
“Yeah— It's not like you actually asked her out. It could totally be a friends thing.”

“Are you sure?”  
“Listen, Zari. It's gonna be fine. It's okay to be nervous. I know you don't wanna risk leading her on, but Charlie already thinks you're straight. She'll assume you're just looking for a new friend or — more likely — an excuse to eat more donuts.”

Zari nodded vigorously, calming down a little bit as she convinced herself Sara was right. 

“I know this can be scary, but it can be exciting as well. Getting to know yourself better everyday is a normal part of life and it's a journey, you know. You just need to let it happen.”

“Since when you're so wise?”  
She finally find the strength to joke again. Sara had a point. She was discovering herself, but she was also lucky enough to do that with supportive friends by her side. 

“Since someone helped me realize how I felt about Ava.”  
“Ugh, I miss being the wise one.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody!  
> I just wanna take a moment to thank every single one of you who is reading this little story I'm writing to survive the hiatus and fulfill my Zarlie heart.  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

'Maybe I should cancel', Zari thought for the millionth time as she was brushing her teeth.  
She kept wondering if Charlie hadn't figured out she wanted to see her and that pissing off her friends was just an excuse.  
But how could she?  
She even texted her again, just to make sure there wasn't any chance the girl would doubt her intention.  
She told Charlie they would tell Ava and Ray they would go with them to the lesson, then leave before the start.  
It would have been actually very funny, if it wasn't for the fact that Ray would probably figure out that something was up. 

Zari couldn't help but feeling shady, even though she rationally knew she wasn't doing anything wrong.  
It was not like she was using Charlie.  
She genuinely wanted to spend time with her. Bickering with her was actually fun, not that she would ever admit that out loud. 

She was just trying to understand what she was feeling. She only knew she thought Charlie was hot, she found herself thinking about her quite often and she wanted to spend some time with her.  
Sara thought this meant she was clearly crushing, but was she though?  
She didn't really know, cause she had never had a crush before. Not for someone she actually knew at least. 

As a teenager, she was never the kind of girl who obsesses for months over some dude.  
She never really understood why someone would want to anyway. She never actually liked any boy that much.  
Was there someone she found hot? Yes, of course, but she never obsessed about it.  
So why was she constantly thinking about this girl she had only met once in her whole life? 

When her phone started buzzing, she realized she had completely zoned out and had been brushing her teeth for about ten minutes.  
She spit in the sink and rinsed her mouth, before looking at her phone.  
It was Sara.  
She dried her face, then answered the call and put her on speaker. 

“Are you getting ready for your date, Z?”  
Sara greeted her with an allusive tone and a big smile. She was definitely enjoying her friend's crush too much.  
Zari completely ignored her as she took the phone and head into her bedroom. 

“Come on, don't be mad. I was just teasing you!  
You never have crushes, you can't blame me for seizing the opportunity!”

“Remind me why we're friends?”  
Zari joked as she put on her yoga pants, not that she'd ever worn them to actually do yoga. They were just very comfy.

“Cause I'm awesome and you couldn't live without me.”  
“Right.”  
She put on a tank shirt that matched the pants and checked herself in the mirror. 

“Anyway, it's not a date. It's just a donut meeting.”  
“A donut meeting? That's how kids call it these days?” 

Zari rolled her eyes and snorted out loud.  
Sara's joking about it was weirdly making her feel less anxious. 

“I have to go. I should be picking Ray up in five minutes.”  
“Call me as soon as you're done. I wanna know everything.”  
“Yeah, sure.”

_______________

“Oh blimey!” 

Charlie woke up with the biggest headache. The inevitable gift all the beers she drank last night gave her.  
Accepting to leave the house this early — at least for her — on a Saturday morning was a big mistake.

Fridays were always pretty busy for the pub and she usually couldn't go upstairs before 3 or 4 in the morning. Most of the time, when she did go upstairs, she didn't went alone. And last night wasn't any different.  
She spent the night with a girl she flirted with all evening. Charlie couldn't remember her name but she clearly remembered she was hot.  
Brown eyes, mahogany hair. She kind of looked a little bit like Zari, but not quite enough.  
She hated being so attracted to a straight girl, but she couldn't help it.  
Zari was incredibly hot and that was one of the reasons she accepted to hang out with her so soon in the morning.  
She knew she wouldn't get anything more than a friendship, but she didn't mind. Teasing her and make her mad was funny and entertaining and she couldn't refuse a chance to keep doing that.  
Besides, she really enjoyed looking at her. 

“Bloody hell, it's late.” 

She mumbled as she forced herself to get out of bed. The girl that was in her bed before she fell asleep was no longer there. She left without even saying goodbye. A lot of them used to do that. 

She managed to get to the gym just in time before the start of the infamous pilates lesson.  
As she walked toward the entrance, she couldn't help but check Zari out one more time.  
The girl was wearing some tight yoga pants that showed off her ass. Charlie couldn't keep herself from thinking about how she wished she wasn't straight, but she couldn't allow herself to hope.

“Hello mates!” 

“You made it! I was starting to think you got lost.”

Zari welcomed the girl with that sentence, hiding the relief she felt seeing her. She had actually started to fear she could bail on her, probably thinking she had a terrible idea. 

“Don't worry, love. I wouldn't leave you alone with these pilates maniacs.”

Charlie's flirting voice was on again. She had promised herself to not fall for a straight girl, but she couldn't stop being herself.  
Zari felt her cheeks warming up and hated her stupid reaction.  
She really hoped her cheeks didn't go red. 

“I'm so glad you're both here. I knew you would love this kind of classes.”

Ray sounded really enthusiastic about that and Zari almost felt guilty about her plan, but she eventually started to say: “Actually—”  
“We're here for the donuts.”  
Charlie finished her sentence and Zari bit her lower lip trying to hide a smile. 

“What?”  
“You two are unbelievable.”  
Ava declared as she shook her head and headed toward the gym.  
“Well, I hope you both enjoy your donuts then.”  
There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in Ray's voice. He was sincerely wishing them to have a good time. That's how big that man's heart was. 

“Well, they weren't as pissed as I hoped.”  
Zari complained with a sigh. She wasn't actually disappointed. She kind of already knew their friends wouldn't be that upset. 

“Yeah, your plan sucked.”  
Charlie commented with a shrug.  
“My plan involves donuts. That basically means it can't suck."  
She said in all seriousness. She would never admit her plan wasn't actually a plan. 

“Let's go eat them then. I haven't had breakfast yet, I woke up like ten minutes ago.”  
“Seriously? That explains why you look kind of hungover.”  
“Cause I am.”  
Zari couldn't help but wonder if her being hungover and sleepy meant she had had a wild night with someone and for some reason that made her feel weird. 

They walked towards the bar across the street and when they finally found a table, Zari couldn't deny anymore the way she was feeling, not to herself.  
She couldn't keep her eyes off Charlie.  
She had noticed she looked tired, but that didn't make her any less attractive.  
The more she looked at her, the more she started to think maybe her friends were right. 

They ordered their donuts and some iced coffee.  
Zari couldn't shake off the feeling this looked a lot like a date and that was why she went unusually silent.  
She was confused and excited at the same time and she didn't even know how this was possible.  
She was questioning everything she always thought she knew about herself and that somehow made her feel good in an odd way.

“Are we still going to do this every time they have their lessons?”  
“Yes!”  
Zari answered too quickly before coming to her senses.  
She didn't want to appear desperate to see her. Maybe she was crushing on her, but this didn't mean she was willing to look desperate.  
She didn't even had any chance of being with this girl anyway. 

'Slow down, Zari. What the heck is happening to you?' she thought before trying to save the situation.  
“I mean, having donuts while we wait for them doesn't sound like a bad idea, right?”  
“You really bloody like donuts, don't you?” 

'Why is her accent so hot?' Zari found herself thinking.  
The more Charlie talked, the more she realized she was probably not straight. Not at all.  
“Yes, I do. I love them, actually.”

Her phone buzzed right after and her screen lighted up displaying Sara's text: ‘How is the date going???’  
Zari almost spit out her coffee, then had to cough before being able to turn her phone face down. 

“Was she asking how your date with the donuts is going?”  
Charlie teased her with a little smirk that made Zari stare at her lips for a little too long, panicking even more. 

Charlie was starting to suspect something didn't add up. Zari was acting weird and she didn't quite catch what was going on, but something definitely was.  
What date was Sara talking about? Maybe Zari had a date as well this morning? Or was she talking about her? 

“No— Uhm— She—”  
Zari stuttered trying to came up with a believable explanation.  
She hated not being able to be honest, but what was she supposed to do? Telling her she was pretty sure she had a crush on her? Then what?  
Best case scenario, they hooked up once or twice. That was it. From what Sara told her, Charlie wasn't the girlfriend kind.  
And even if they hooked up, how was she supposed to do it right if she's never been with a woman before?  
There was so much she still had to figure out, she couldn't tell something even only resembling the truth. 

She had never hated Sara that much in her whole life. Why would she send that text?  
“She must have misunderstood— I told her I was having breakfast with someone and she must have thought it was a date.”  
She lied as best she could. She tried to appear calm and put together, while she started to eat her donut as if she wasn't feeling a thousand different things at the same time.  
She didn't even believe her own lie.

Charlie nodded but kept a sceptical look in her eyes.  
That girl was really intriguing. She wasn't going to let herself hope, but she was positive something was up.  
In any case, there was no way she would stop teasing her.  
“Are you making out with that donut?”

“I told you I love donuts. Why? You're jealous?”  
Where did that come from? Was she flirting back? Was she completely losing control of her mind?  
Charlie chuckled, then shrugged as to say: touché. You won this round. 

 

“So what do you do for a living? Except making out with donuts.”  
“Ah-ah, very funny.”  
Zari said with a fake smile and an irritated look. She had to keep up an appearance.  
“I work for Ray at Palmer's Tech. I'm his company best asset, actually.”  
“Cool. So you're a genius or something?”  
“Why so surprised? Don't I look like a genius?”  
“Actually—”  
“Don't you dare say no or I'll steal your donut.”  
Zari threatened her with a reproaching look that was actually adorable at Charlie's eyes.  
“What I was about to say is: if you're such a genius, you should have thought of a better plan to piss off our friends.”  
Zari rolled her eyes, before taking another donut bite. 

“Oh blimey. I forgot again when the next hearing is. Remind me to ask Ava when she comes out.”  
Charlie said out of the blue, just remembering she was supposed to meet Nora and be prepped.  
“Oh, are you a lawyer like Ava?”  
“Absolutely not, do I look like a lawyer? I own a pub. Ava and Nora are helping with a legal question.”

“Really? What did you do? Are you a murderer or something?”  
She joked, assuming she was talking about some boring stuff. Probably she just needed legal help to finalize the purchase of the pub or something.  
“Nope, I punched a guy. I messed him up pretty bad.”  
Charlie talked in all seriousness and Zari risked to spit her coffee a second time.  
“Are you kidding me?”  
“Do I look like I'm kidding?”

She didn't. She looked pretty serious and Zari was surprised about that.  
She suddenly wanted to know everything about how that happened.  
“Wow. What did he do?”  
“He touched one of my girls and insulted her when she pulled back. I can't tolerate those kind of things in my pub, so I punched him in the face once or twice. Or maybe more. Apparently I broke his nose. Ops.”  
She shrugged and didn't looked sorry at all.  
And she wasn't. Charlie was impulsive and she recognized she could have dealt differently with that situation, but she didn't regret anything.  
She gave that man a lesson and that was more satisfying than only banning him from her pub.  
“He definitely deserved it. Wow, you're a badass.”  
Zari couldn't help to say, sounding both surprised and admired.  
Knowing this made the girl even more attractive to her eyes. She was hot, wit, funny and a badass. How was she supposed to not think about her constantly? 

_______________

“You should come hang out at my pub sometimes. Don't worry, there would be plenty of decent straight dudes to buy you drinks.”  
Charlie said when the hour was almost over. It was only a matter of time now before Ava and Ray joined them.

“I don't drink, but I thought you would have given me drinks for free. It would be the least you could do after laughing at my fall.”  
“That would be bad for business. Having someone else pay for drinks is the smart option.”  
“She's smart too.”  
Zari joked, forcing herself to sound impressed. 

“Why so surprised? Besides, straight dude are your type, right?”  
“Yeah—”  
Zari nodded but didn't look convincing at all.  
Charlie started to wonder if her gaydar wasn't right after all.  
“Anyway, I'm going to play at the pub with my band tomorrow night. You can come if you fancy a good show.”

So she was a singer too? Was there something not interesting about this girl?  
“I'll check my calendar.”  
Zari answered with the most serious look on her face,  
She already knew she didn't have a choice. She was going to say yes. No way she was going to decline the chance to listen to her singing in that accent.  
“Just kidding. If there's food I'll be there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, Zari has finally realized she's not straight.  
> I played with the idea of making her struggle a little to accept her sexuality, but then I came to the conclusion it wouldn't make any sense in this story.  
> She's a strong, smart, confident, open minded woman, surrounded by LGBT friends, so of course she would embrace her newly discovered sexuality with curiosity and excitement.  
> I think that's how it would work for everybody who didn't grew up in a homophobic environment. Of course I could only suppose cause I wasn't that lucky lol.  
> Personal thoughts aside, thank you so much for sticking around. xoxo


	4. Chapter 4

“I'm definitely not straight.”  
This was the first sentence that came out of Zari's mouth when Sara answered her FaceTime call.  
She had thought about it all day and had come to the conclusion that she was indeed not heterosexual.  
She hadn't figured out yet which label was the one that most represented her, but she was absolutely sure about something: she was totally gay for Charlie. 

“I'm glad you finally figured it out. I'm so proud of you, Z.”  
Laying on her bed, Zari was feeling lighter, happier, excited. Inebriated.  
She had been in a good mood since she left Charlie that morning. She couldn't wait to see her again.  
If this was what it felt like to finally know herself better, she loved it.

“What made you realize it? What happened this morning?”  
“Well, we talked. A lot. And—”  
“Wait, did you tell her?”  
“What? No! We didn't talk about that! We were just talking, you know… And the more we talked, the more I realized I was screwed.  
She has the sexiest accent and she told me she punched a guy. How hot is that?”

“Yeah, Ava told me. That's pretty badass.”  
“And I kept staring at her mouth, wondering what it would feel like to kiss her… I'm so screwed, Sara. So screwed. She's also a singer!”  
“Aww, you're so cute, Z. I've never seen you so hooked up on someone before.  
—Oh gosh, Ava's here. Gotta go now, gonna have sex with my girlfriend!”  
“Oh dear Beebo, I didn't need to hear that.”  
“See you tomorrow, love you. Bye!” 

Zari shook her head as she hung up.  
Sara didn't even try to hide her horniness. Typical. 

Zari threw the phone toward the empty side of her bed and spent the next half an hour or so thinking about her newly discovered sexuality. And Charlie.  
In less than a week, she had gone from thinking she was straight to lusting over this incredibly beautiful woman she had just met.  
Who could have thought her life could change so quickly? It was like a whole world of new and exciting possibilities was suddenly in front of her.  
And the possibility that was most appealing to her was the chance to get to know Charlie better.  
Everything about her made her curious.  
Deep down, she knew she shouldn’t let herself be so hooked up on her, but she couldn’t stop. She kept wondering what it would feel like to kiss her lips, stroke her hair, to get her to smile at her instead of laugh at her.  
She was more than aware that all those things would probably never happen, but a girl could dream, right?

_______________

Charlie was on top of her. She could feel the weight of her body pressing on hers in a way that felt too good to be true.  
One of Charlie's hand was on her breast, while hers were both on the girl's butt.  
Their lips were constantly touching, hungry for one another.  
Zari had never felt more turned on in her entire life. She kept gasping and panting as Charlie's mouth moved slowly and inevitably on her neck, her breasts, her belly, then lower, toward her final destination.  
Zari could feel her head between her legs, her tongue slowly teasing, her hair tickling her inner thighs.  
“Fuck me, Charlie” she moaned, begging for her to take care of her wetness.

 

A horn from a car on the street woke her up.  
She had never been more disappointed of being in her bed alone.  
The dream felt so real, so authentic.  
She must have fallen asleep while she was thinking about Charlie and that led to the vivid dream she had just woken up from.  
Even her arousal was very real, very urgent. She felt unsatisfied, unfinished. If only the dream could pick up from where it stopped…

She was still sleepy, so she turned to her side and put a pillow between her legs without even thinking about it. She often did that. It was a comfy way of sleeping.  
But this time, before she knew it, she was grinding against that pillow. Slowly moving her hips while her mind kept trying to go back to that dream. 

The Charlie in her fantasy was eating her out as her wetness kept growing, her need becoming more pressing.  
She kept rubbing her clothed crotch against the pillow as her fantasy shifted to a Charlie that was sucking and squeezing her boobs.  
After a little while, the pillow wasn't satisfying her anymore, so she laid on her back and slid her hand inside her panties.  
She widened her legs and imagined what it would feel like if it was Charlie’s hand the one touching her.  
But it wasn't. It was her own hand instead and it felt so good she moaned as her cold fingers drew circles around her clit.  
She gathered some juice from her center and dragged it toward her aroused clit so she could start rubbing it with slow movements, that grew faster as her fantasy changed up one more time. 

She was on top of dream Charlie now, kissing her as she rubbed her pulsing center against her thigh.  
She needed more. She kept touching herself, applying more and more pressure, her hips moving alongside her hand as her whole body was affected by the orgasm she felt coming.  
She ultimately climaxed with an intensity she hadn't felt in a long while. Her whole body was spasming in pleasure for what felt like a very long minute. She couldn't even remember when the last time she had felt something like that was. 

She stared at the ceiling as she recovered.  
Her heart beating fast, her mind still foggy enough to prevent her from freak out about what had just happened.  
If this was what it felt like to masturbate about Charlie, how would it feel to actually have sex with her?  
She suddenly felt the undeniable urge to find out. She didn't stop to think about it or about how weird would it be to see Charlie next time after what she had just done.  
She didn't care right now. She was feeling good and that was all that mattered as she fell asleep. 

 

When she opened her eyes the morning after, everything that happened during the night hit her all at once.  
She couldn't believe she literally had both a sex dream and masturbated about Charlie in the same night.  
And she was supposed to see her again in less than twelve hours.  
How could she manage to look her in the eyes without thinking about all those vivid fantasies that were still lingering in the back of her mind? She couldn't. Not that soon. She had to cancel. That was her only option. 

 

«I have a huge problem and I need to talk about it» was the text Zari sent to Sara.  
She didn't even know what she would say to her, but she needed her friend's help to figure out how she was going to survive this. 

«Okay, I'll be at your place in five.»  
«Bring breakfast.»  
Zari typed quickly then went scrolling on Instagram. Maybe seeing other people's life would distract her from all the mess that was going on in her mind.  
But the universe was clearly willing to torture her that day, because pretty soon she found herself in front of a picture Charlie had posted. 

They followed each other on social media the day before, with the pretext of Zari needing the pub location that was linked in Charlie's profile.  
She forced herself not to stalk her. She didn't need to crush even more.  
But now she was staring at the picture Charlie had uploaded ten hours ago.  
The girl was captured standing on stage, grasping a mic between her hands, her face caught in an overly suggestive expression.  
She was wearing a black leather skirt, fishnet stockings, high-heeled boots, a tight dark shirt and a choker.  
If that was the way she dressed during her shows, Zari couldn't definitely go that night. That would be too much to handle. 

It was like the moment she had realized she was into girls — she was into Charlie — everything she didn't let herself feel all those years was suddenly exploding.  
She was constantly excited about living, experiencing that part of herself that had been unwillingly buried for too long.  
She suddenly wanted to kiss a girl — kiss Charlie — have a relationship, be in love.  
She wanted it all, even though she had never wanted that with none of the guys she had been with.  
She was scared and thrilled at the same time and for the first time in her life she felt ready to overcome any fear. But she still didn't know how to deal with her crush for Charlie and that was why she needed her friend. 

“I brought cronuts. They were out of donuts.”  
Sara announced when she arrived. She was still in her workout clothes. She probably went on her morning jog and that was the reason she was so close to Zari's apartment.  
“Cronuts will do. I need sugar after everything that happened.”

“What happened?”  
A more than confused Sara asked. It was ten in the morning, what could have possibly happened since they last talked? 

“I can't go to Charlie's pub tonight.”  
Zari declared as she threw herself on the couch, knees hugged to her chest, and attacked her cronut.  
She didn't even know exactly what she needed to talk about with Sara or how much she was willing to tell. She was pretty sure her friend would mock her about it forever, if she knew the whole truth.  
Besides, she didn't want to share it all. Not because she was embarrassed to talk to her best friend about her solo session — they talked about that kind of stuff all the time — but because she felt like what happened was something so intimate she wanted to keep it to herself. 

“Okay… Why?”  
Sara looked confused and concerned. Maybe she was afraid Zari and Charlie had some kind of fight.  
Zari took another bite, thinking about what to say, then she took her phone and handed it over to Sara. Charlie's picture was still on the screen.  
“Look.”  
“That's a picture of Charlie… So?”  
“So? Look at her. How can I possibly keep a straight face if she's dressed like that?” 

Sara looked at her almost wondering if she was being serious.  
She wasn't used to see Zari act like that and that was why she knew she really cared a lot about Charlie.  
“Well, then don't. There's nothing wrong with having a gay face."  
Sara laughed at her own pun then got back to serious mode as she realized Zari wasn't in the mood for jokes.  
She was really struggling with those feelings she wasn't used to.  
"Sorry, I had to. Anyway, why don't you make a move? You already know she's into you. What's the worst thing that could happen?”  
Zari stared at Sara like she was insane. How could she possibly think something like that?

"The worst thing that could happen? Oh, let me see. I don't know, maybe she could realize she doesn't want to have anything to do with someone who has never been with a girl before.  
Or we could hook up and I would make a fool of myself cause I've never eaten pussy before.  
Or I could fall for her and she would tell me she doesn't do relationships."  
Zari snapped, bursting out all of her fears with a snarky tone.  
She had thought about it a lot and she had come to the conclusion that she didn't stand a chance with Charlie. 

“Is that what you're worried about? Well, for starters, I can assure you that lack of experience would not be a problem. I'm way more experienced than Ava and that's never been an issue.”  
“That's a totally different situation.”

"About that last part, you don't do relationships either. If you can change your mind about that, so can Charlie."  
Sara insisted dismissing Zari intentions to stop listening to her. 

Zari took a second cronut as she stared into the nothingness thinking about everything that could go wrong if she ever decided to act on her feelings.  
“I mean, isn't insane how hooked up I am? I've only seen her twice!”  
“Well, women's relationships move fast. Besides, maybe this means it's true love.”  
“Shut up.”  
Zari rolled her eyes and retained a smile. She hated how soft this was making her. 

“I still can't go tonight.”  
“Why?”  
Zari looked at her reluctantly.  
“Is there something else?”  
“I might or might not have had a sex dream about her.”  
She confessed burying her face on her knees so she didn't have to look at Sara.

“Wow, Z. You really need to shag, as Charlie would say.”  
Sara was clearly teasing her and trying not to laugh. She wasn't expecting that.  
Zari let out a whiny sound.  
“Well, I think this is one more reason for you to go to that show. Maybe you'll get lucky."  
The girl kept keeping her head buried on her knees, refusing to even consider to go. She wouldn't be able to look at Charlie without being both embarrassed and turned on, but at the same time she really wanted to listen to her sing.

"Weren't you paying attention? I can't. I've never done that."  
"Well, as someone very wise once said 'if you can dream it, you can do it' and you clearly can dream it, so—"  
Zari threw a pillow at Sara, who was having too much fun messing with her.  
"And who said that?"  
"I have no idea, but Laurel said that to me once."  
"Laurel is truly the wiser sister."  
"Consider me offended."  
"Anyways, I don't think that applies to this situation."  
"I think it does. Last month when Ava was in Fresno visiting her parents I had a really vivid dream about—"  
"I don't need to hear that!"  
She hurried to stop her, knowing if she hadn't Sara would have probably described her sex dream in a very detailed way.  
"Your loss."

"I need to find an excuse for not going. Maybe I could tell her I have food poisoning."  
"No, you're not. You're not chickening out on me, girl."  
Sara reproached her with a gesture of her index finger. She wouldn't let her friend give up on the opportunity to date the girl she liked.  
"Yes, I am. Have you seen how hot she is? I'll gay panic all the time."  
"That's just part of life, you'll get used to it, but I might have an idea to ease your gay panicking.  
We're all going. Me, Ava, the guys.  
We'll help keep your hormones at bay.”  
“I can't believe that might actually be a good idea.”


	5. Chapter 5

Nine o'clock came quicker than ever that Sunday evening.  
That was the time she was supposed to go pick up Nate and then head to Charlie's pub, where they would meet all of their friends.  
That afternoon she had even managed to have a brief conversation with Charlie via text. 

«Hey Charlie! So I told Sara about your show tonight and she thought it would be a good idea to invite all of our friends as well. Hope it's not a problem.»  
«That's fine, mate. The more the merrier.» 

Zari overanalyzed every word before sending that text. She didn't want to risk making Charlie think she had invited her friends just because she didn't want to be alone with her. Which was true, but not for a reason that Charlie would guess.  
But was it though? Did she really wanted to avoid being alone with Charlie?  
Part of her wanted to hide forever, because she was afraid she would say or do something that would expose everything she was feeling for this gorgeous woman she had just met. Another part of her though wanted to be alone with Charlie. That part wanted to talk to her, get to know her better, kiss her.  
She blocked her thoughts there.  
She had to stop thinking about Charlie that way if she wanted to be able to function like a proper human being rather than a gay mess that night. 

“Okay, Zari, you can do this.”

She whispered to her reflection in the mirror.  
She had to resist the urge to dress up for the occasion.  
She had to keep reminding herself she was just going out for a night out with her friends, not for a date.  
So instead of wearing some fancy clothes, she opted for something more casual. A pair of skinny dark jeans and a shirt.  
She kept staring at the image in the mirror, wondering what Charlie would think of her outfit choice. Would she like it? Would she say something flirty? She probably would. She could already hear her say something about how deep her neckline was and she was afraid she would be more pleased than annoyed by that remark.  
She checked herself in the mirror one last time, smoothing her hair with her fingers. 

“Okay, let's do this.”

_______________

“Thank you for picking me up, Z. I can't believe my car abandoned me.”

“I actually can't believe it lasted this long.”

“What would be the point of being an historian if you didn't own a vintage car?”

“You call it vintage, I call it wreck.”

She joked with her friend, trying to work up the courage to say what she needed to say.  
It was never easy for her to talk about feelings, but knowing she had the most supportive friends in the world helped.  
Nate was basically like a brother for her and it felt right to share with him that she had just discovered this huge part of herself. 

“Just out of curiosity, do you think I'm straight?” 

She asked rather suddenly, looking for a second in Nate direction trying to catch any sign of surprise. She saw confusion instead. 

“Uhm— No? I always assumed you aren't, you wear way too much flannel to be straight. Why?”

“Wow. Was I really the only one thinking I was straight?” 

“Pretty much, yes.”

He shrugged. 

“Unbelievable. Basically all of my friends knew before I did and didn't even bother to tell me.”

“You have to figure out this kind of things by yourself.”

“I know, but now I'm stuck having the biggest crush on a girl that thinks I'm straight because that's what I told her when she was flirting with me. How crazy is that?”

“Why don't you just tell her that you're not?”

“Because she's Ava's friend and she's annoying, smart, badass and incredibly hot.  
I can't function properly in her presence.”

She confessed as she kept driving toward their destination.  
She was both excited and scared as hell.

“Ava's friend? Wait, so this evening is not just for us to meet Ava's friends!  
Is this a set up for you to spend time with your crush?”

“Actually, Sara decided to invite you all so that I didn't have to be alone with Charlie. Not that I didn't want to, but I have less chance of acting weird if you guys are around.”

“That's actually a very good idea. We're basically your wingmen! Wait, I can be your wingman. I could talk to her and convince her to ask you out!” 

“Nate, no! You will do no such thing! You'll just enjoy the night and save me if you see me getting awkward around her, okay?” 

_______________

Charlie tried not to manifest her disappointment in the text she sent Zari, but she was indeed disappointed.  
She was hoping Zari would come alone to her pub and her show. She had already imaged how the evening would go.  
They would talk — mostly bicker — all night and it would be fun.  
Even though she had chosen to believe what Zari told her, part of her was still hoping her gaydar wasn't wrong.  
She couldn't remember when the last time she had had that much fun with someone without even having sex was.  
She enjoyed teasing her constantly, making her mad, spending time with her. She just wanted to be with her for a little longer than they did the last time they saw each other.  
So she was indeed disappointed to find out she would have to share her with the rest of both their group of friends that night. 

Charlie was checking pretty often the entrance of her pub.  
The firsts to arrive were unsurprisingly Ava and Sara, that spent all the time cuddling on a sofa. They were basically acting like it was a date night, at least until all of their friends would start coming. 

Zari was next to arrive, but she wasn't alone.  
She was with a bloke that was probably her friend.  
Was he her friend, right? Why did they came together though? What if he was her date? Maybe she was really straight after all? 

________________

“What did you say her name was?” 

“Charlie, why?” 

Zari looked at Nate with an expression that was both concerned and confused. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. 

“Her name is definitely not Charlie.”

“What?” 

“Hello, mates! Welcome to the Waverider.”

Zari's confusion couldn't find an explanation when Charlie approached them.  
She had to hold her breath for a second when she saw her.  
Charlie was dressed exactly as she was in those pictures, but she was even more beautiful in the flesh.  
Zari couldn't help but discreetly check her out, ending up staring at her eyes, framed by a very eccentric pink liner.  
Charlie was stunning and Zari couldn't believe there was a time she actually thought she could not be attracted to her. 

Charlie on the other hand didn't even try to hide the fact that she was checking Zari out. What was the point of pretending she didn't like what she saw? 

“Amaya?”

Nate was looking straight at Charlie's face like she was a ghost.  
Zari forced herself to come back to reality and try to understand what was going on.  
She recognized that name. Amaya was Nate's highschool girlfriend. He had never really got over her.  
But how could he mistake Charlie for Amaya? Did he accidentally get high again? 

“Nope, mate. That's my sister. My twin sister actually.”

“That's impossible. Amaya doesn't have a twin sister. I would know about that.”

“Not if she didn't know until two years ago. It's a long story, don't ask.”

Nate opened his mouth to say something, then just backed down to take a seat. He probably needed to recover from that encounter.  
Zari was surprised by what had just happened and couldn't help but being curious to find out what was the story behind that.

“I'm glad you came, love.”

“I didn't have anything better to do tonight.”

She shrugged as she tried to not let out how much she actually had wanted to be there.  
She couldn't wait to hear her sing.  
If her voice was that good to hear while she talked, she couldn't even start to imagine what kind of effect would her singing have on her. 

“Well, I'm sure you'll enjoy the show.”

_______________

It took almost half an hour for all the gang to reunite.  
Sara and Ava introduced their friends to each other, pretending it was their idea for all of them to be there.  
Zari couldn't be more grateful. She didn't want everybody there — especially Ava's friends —to know Sara had had that idea only to allow her to spend time with Charlie without panicking or embarrassing herself. 

Charlie kept going from her table to behind the bar, cause she had a pub to run as well as socializing with them.  
Zari kept finding herself staring at the girl. The way she moved, the way she smiled, the way she talked, even the way she sometimes winked at complete strangers. Everything was mesmerizing to her. She was just in awe of everything about Charlie.  
That feeling was so new to her that sometimes she felt like she couldn't breathe.  
She definitely wasn't used to be that infatuated. 

 

The moment Charlie's band was about to perform finally came and Zari couldn't be more excited about it. 

“Are you ready for The Smell, lads?” 

Zari tried to remain cool and to not let any emotion out, but the moment Charlie started to sing she realized what all those songs about someone taking your breath away were about. 

She didn't even like punk rock, she was more of a pop kind of girl, but she was nonetheless fascinated by that song and the way Charlie moved as she sang.  
Her passion for what she was doing was so clear nobody would ever doubt it.  
She was in her element and that somehow made Zari feel even more drawn to her. 

She was completely captured by her performance, so much that she winced when Sara poked at her elbow. 

“What?” She whispered, almost annoyed. She didn't want to miss even a second of that performance.  
“She's pretty good, uh?”  
“Yeah. Don't even get me started on her accent.”  
She confessed to her friend. Sara was probably the only one who could understand the level of lust Zari was actually feeling in that moment. 

The song Charlie was singing was about a one night stand and she kept catching Zari's eyes pretty often. That couldn't be a coincidence, right? 

_______________

The Smell sang three songs than they left the stage to another band.  
While Charlie was putting her guitar away, she was basically ambushed by Mona. 

“Mona? What are you doing here? Do you wanna use the loo in my flat again? Cause seriously, there's nothing wrong with the one down here—”

“There's always some drunk girl peeing all over the floor! Anyway, it's not about that. I wanna talk to you about Zari!"

“What about her?” 

Mona looked really excited, maybe more than usual. So much that even Charlie got curious to hear what she had to say.

“The way she was looking at you while you were singing. She likes you!” 

“She does not. Not like that. She's straight, remember?” 

In all honesty, Charlie did notice something too, but she didn't want to allow herself to hope. Maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see. 

“But she was lusting for you. It was clearly like in one of Rebecca Silver's novels! She was trying to act normal but her eyes were talking. She likes you! I'm two hundred percent sure!” 

“Maybe she was lusting over my guitarist.”

She said that, but Mona actually got her thinking.  
She wasn't imagining it. Maybe Zari was really into her. She couldn't deny she really seemed to be looking at her like she wanted to jump her.  
There was only one thing she could do: keep flirting with her until she figured it out. 

_______________

Her stuff finally seemed to be able to handle the bar all by themselves, so Charlie could go where their friends were.  
She sat at Zari's side, interrupting a conversation between her and Amaya's ex.  
She didn't really care to interrupt, she could already say he was talking about some boring stuff.  
From what she understood by their conversation that evening, he was an history professor always ready to talk about some historical bollocks.  
Her sister had really weird taste in men. 

“Did you like the show?” 

“It wasn't that bad.” 

Zari shrugged and took a sip of her drink. She was determined to not let Charlie know how much she had enjoyed watching her. 

“It wasn't that bad? That's it? I thought you would become my biggest fan.”

“You wish.”

Zari rolled her eyes. How could Charlie be able to be so annoying and hot at the same time?  
She would eventually drive her crazy. 

“Seriously, it looked like you were really enjoying the show.”

Charlie added as she pointed at herself with a gesture of her hands, suggesting she was the show that Zari enjoyed.  
At that point the other girl almost choked on the drink she was sipping. Why did she kept having that effect on her? Was part of her mission to be excruciatingly annoying?  
Zari stared at the singer for a little too long and when she finally talked she couldn't even believe what came out of her mouth. 

“Maybe I did.”  
She said in all seriousness, scrutinizing Charlie's expression after that.  
She looked satisfied of that answer as she gave her that flirty look that drove Zari internally crazy.  
She felt like she couldn't handle that unless it was in small doses.  
And that was why she was glad Nate interrupted them. 

“Hey Z, It's getting late for me. I have an important lesson tomorrow, so I have to go, but Mick is giving me a ride, so you can stay.”

“Oh okay.”

She nodded, only a small part of her brain actually listening. The other part was busy panicking about what she had just said to Charlie. Did she just admitted she liked her? 

In the next twenty minutes or something, Zari found herself to be the only one left.  
She didn't even know how that happened and she kind of suspected Sara had something to do with it.  
The firsts to leave were Constantine and Gary. Apparently the two of them already knew each other and had been weirdly flirting all evening.  
Ray followed, offering Nora a ride home.  
Then Ava and Sara came up with an excuse to leave and basically forced Mona to do the same.  
It wasn't even that late. It was almost midnight.  
That was why Zari was pretty sure Sara plotted something to get her to be alone with Charlie.  
She knew she was supposed to be mad about that – and she was – but she was also kind of glad. Part of her enjoyed not having to share Charlie's attention.  
Maybe Sara was just giving her what she realized she actually wanted. 

 

"Aren't you supposed to get up early for work tomorrow?" 

Charlie asked when the two of them were still sitting at that table. 

"Are you kicking me out?" 

"I'm just being thoughtful, love. I don't want you to be late for work just because you were too busy flirting with me."

She managed to look so serious that she could almost fool Zari into thinking she was actually worried, instead of just teasing.  
Zari glared at her, squeezing her eyes and frowning.  
Charlie couldn't help but think about how cute she looked when she was pissed. 

"What makes you think I'm flirting with you?"

Zari asked back, her arms crossed. She didn't even know where all that was coming from. Was that really her attempt to flirt back? 

"Are you?"

Zari shrugged as an answer and took a handful of the savory snacks that kept arriving to their table. She needed food to help her get through the rest of the night.  
After she finished chewing, she found the gut to say something more risky. Food really did for her what alcohol did for other people. 

"If I were flirting with you, I would tell you how hot you looked on stage."

That was probably still a lame kind of flirting, Zari thought, but she wasn't used to this. 

"So you think I'm hot then? I was wondering when you would admit it."

Charlie smugged and Zari inevitably rolled her eyes. She enjoyed how exciting that kind of flirting-bickering was. 

"You're so annoying."

_______________

It didn't take long for Zari to get overwhelmed by everything she was feeling.  
Flirting did not come easy to her. Not with Charlie. Not when her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest at any given moment.  
That was why she had to excuse herself and went looking for a bathroom. She needed time to recover.  
She couldn't deal with all the weird stuff her stomach kept doing every single time she talked to her, especially when she was being flirty.

Zari didn't know where the restroom was and she didn't even really care. She ended up in a small room full of stuff.  
She didn't bother going somewhere else, she just needed a moment to breathe and to get some clarity back into her mind.  
She also sent Sara a text.  
«I hate you for leaving. I'm a gay mess right now.»  
She stayed there for a couple of minutes, then she headed out. 

"What—" 

She gasped when she bumped into someone. Charlie. 

"I came to tell you the restroom is not this way."

"Yeah, I figured."

She answered in a breath, before she started to feel things due to their extreme proximity.  
Zari was stuck between the singer and the door behind her.  
She was extremely aware of her body against Charlie's. Her eyes kept wandering between her eyes and her lips.  
Her entire life, she had never felt a bigger urge to kiss someone. 

"Oh screw it. I can't do this anymore."

She chose to surrender to that urge.  
She leaned forward just enough to brush her lips against Charlie's and her heart stopped during the second it took for Charlie to kiss her back.  
Zari had never felt something like that before. Her heart was beating fast as she kept kissing the only person who ever made her feel that way. 

Charlie was pleasantly surprised by the turn of events.  
She had regained hope as soon as Zari had started to flirt back, but she could have never imagined she would actually kiss her.  
That was why it took her a few seconds to realize what was happening and kiss her back.  
She had allowed herself to fantasize about kissing Zari's soft lips, but reality was definitely better than her imagination.  
She ran her hand through the girl's hair and kept kissing her like her life depended on it.  
It became quickly an intense, passionate, rough kiss.  
Charlie's tongue slid between her lips and Zari tasted something she didn't recognize right away. Only later she realized it was the beer the girl had been drinking. 

"I was right. You are a good kisser."

That was the first thing Charlie said, smirking, right after the kiss. 

"How did you guess?" 

Zari felt lighter, brighter. She was smiling genuinely as she tried to catch her breath. 

"From the way you eat your donuts."

"I can't stand you."

She chuckled and gave her a little bump on the shoulder, before walking away with a huge smile on her face.


	6. Chapter 6

"Was that a straight girl kiss?" 

Charlie teased Zari as soon as she joined her again at the table. She was still smirking, savoring the sensation that being right brought to her.  
Her gaydar wasn't broken after all. She had been right all along. 

"Yeah, obviously. I kiss all of my friends like that."

Zari promptly replied, exaggerating her eye roll, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  
She hoped to be able to look pissed, but her eyes likely betrayed what she really felt like.  
She was still high on Charlie's kiss. She felt amazing and she intended on enjoying that sensation, before the endorphins wore off and she started to freak out. 

"I'm glad to be your friend then."

That smirk. That smirk was making Zari want to kiss her again. Thank Beebo she had self control. 

"Why do you have to always be so annoying?" 

Zari complained, trying to look irritated by her teasing, but the smile that kept crawling its way back on her face made it pretty hard. 

"It's my hobby. Some people have yoga, some people have donuts. Mine is annoying you."

"I thought you're hobby was singing."

She pointed at the stage. 

"Well, that's more of a talent."

Zari shook her head. Was it bad she liked the kind of annoying Charlie was?  
She rationally knew it was bad. She knew she was screwed for liking her, but how could she not? She had no idea how to turn off that feeling and she wasn't sure she would want to.  
Flirting with her was exciting and she kind of was eager to find out where things would go. 

"I can show you my other talent if you fancy."

Charlie winked in an allusive way that left no doubt on the kind of talent she was talking about.  
Zari blushed immediately, thinking about the night before and how much she actually wanted to get in bed with her.  
If Charlie kept on flirting like that Zari wasn't sure she would have enough self control to sleep on her bed that night. 

"What's that? Punching pervs? I would like to see that, yeah."

She pretended to misunderstand, but that didn't help with the growing attraction she was feeling.  
Everything about Charlie was attractive, even the things she found annoying.  
How could she deal with that? 

"That wasn't the talent I was talking about."

Another allusive look and Zari had to appeal to every inch of self control that was in her body to resist the urge of doing something about the way she was feeling. 

"Anyway, I know coming out can be rough sometimes, so if you need to talk or anything, I'm here."

Charlie said out of nowhere, growing unusually serious as she spoke and this surprised Zari a lot. 

"Why are you looking at me like that? I can be serious too. Did you think I could only joke?" 

"Actually… Yes, I kind of did."

"I'm offended."

"Well— Thank you. I really appreciate that."

Zari couldn't be more surprised. She hadn't expected Charlie to be so thoughtful and suddenly she felt shitty about it. Did she really thought Charlie would only want to tease her and flirt? Did she underestimate her that much? 

"Believe it or not, I kind of came out to some of my friends today, but it turned out I didn't need to. They already knew and never thought of telling me."

"Are you telling me I was the one who told you?" 

"Well, yes, you made me realize I'm not as straight as I thought. As a matter of fact, I'm not straight at all."

She confessed that, making it sound like it was Charlie's comment that made her realize she was bi and not the insane attraction she had developed for her. 

"I knew that. I knew there was no way you were straight.  
Besides, who could possibly still be straight after looking at me?" 

Another eye roll as Charlie smirked again.  
Zari had lost count of how many times the girl had had that effect on her. 

"That's right. The moment I laid eyes on you I instantly turned gay and had the urge to fuck you. Is that your superpower? "

Another eye roll, her voice full of sarcasm.  
If only Charlie knew how much truth was in those words. 

"That wouldn't surprise me. I tend to have that effect on women."

_______________

In a blink of an eye, between some flirting, talking — and of course bickering — it became pretty late.  
It was the middle of the night and the place was empty, except for the two of them.  
Zari had offered to help Charlie close off and they both stayed at the bar, eating some snacks. 

Zari was surprised by how easy it was to talk to her. They were still bickering pretty often, but they were also talking. Really talking.  
They talked about their lives, their interests, their dreams, their passions.  
If someone had told her she would bond that much with someone she had basically just met, she would have never believed it.  
The truth was that Charlie was so much more than just an annoying hot girl. She was also fun, smart, thoughtful and incredibly cute. 

"Are you telling me you found out you had a sister by accident? That's insane!" 

"Damn right it is! I thought I was cloned or something!" 

"That's the craziest thing I've ever heard and I have pretty crazy friends."

It felt like they had known each other their whole lives. Talking was easy and natural.  
Zari was painfully aware of how late it was, but she didn't want the night to end. Not yet. 

"I don't doubt that. Your friend actually believed Amaya could dress like me. Crazy."

Zari found herself smiling and using Charlie's words as a pretext to lay her eyes on her outfit once again. The way the shirt was see-through near her breasts was driving her crazy.  
It was unbelievable how until less than a week ago she wasn't even aware she liked boobs and now she was lusting over Charlie's.  
Her life really did change for the better.

"I would like to meet her. I bet she's not as annoying as you."

"She's also not as fun as me" 

Charlie winked with a seductive smile as she leaned forward, bending over the surface of the bar in such a way her face was pretty close to Zari's. 

"Yeah? You're fun?" 

Zari stupidly mumbled as she held her breath. She tried to look sceptical but she was too overwhelmed by her proximity.  
Charlie's face was so close and Zari knew she was doing that on purpose. That girl was so annoying. She really wanted to torture her. There was no way she didn't know what she was doing. 

"I am, love. I can show you if you don't believe me."

She whispered those words and Zari could feel her warm breath on her lips. She was so close she could almost taste her.  
She inhaled that peculiar odor and now that she already knew how good she tasted resisting would be impossible.  
In that moment she knew she couldn't fight it anymore. 

"Show me." 

She whispered back, surrendering to her instincts once again, letting go of everything she rationally knew.  
She leaned forward and grabbed Charlie's shirt to pull her closer.  
Her heart was beating fast in her chest. She had never done something like that.  
That girl was able to bring out a part of her she didn't knew was there and this was both exciting and terrifying. 

Charlie didn't need to hear that twice. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Zari's.  
This time, their kiss was pure fire.  
They kissed each other passionately, Zari's tongue sliding soon into her mouth. 

Zari felt like all of her senses were going crazy.  
She felt the urge to keep kissing Charlie, to keep being inebriated by her perfume, to keep feeling her hand through her hair.  
She needed this. She needed to feel like this.  
For the first time in her life she felt wide awake.

"Show me your apartment."

Zari surprised herself blowing on Charlie's lips.  
She didn't know where that confidence was coming from, she only knew she didn't want that night to end, not before she had kissed Charlie several other times. 

"Damn, girl. Won't you even buy me dinner first?" 

Charlie joked, pretending to be scandalized.  
She was actually surprised by Zari's initiative. She would have never expected the turn the night had taken.  
That girl was so intriguing and unpredictable. She liked that about her.  
She also liked making out with her and that was why she knew she would obey to that request.

"I shared donuts with you. It's basically better than buying you dinner."

Zari shrugged and the way her lips twirled in a funny expression made Charlie want to kiss her again. She was so cute.  
She didn't even remember the last time she had had that kind of thoughts about someone.

"I suppose that'll be enough then." 

_______________

They were on one of Charlie's couch.  
Zari legs were on hers, her arms wrapped around her chest, her right hand grabbing her hair.  
Charlie hadn't make out that much since high school.  
She usually preferred to get straight to the point with her one night stands, but this time she was enjoying all that passionate and sometimes soft contact.  
She could have stayed there kissing Zari's lips all night long and she wouldn't be tired at all.  
Her left hand was on Zari's hip and that was everything she allowed herself to touch.  
She knew Zari had just came out and she didn't want to come off as pushy. She wanted to make clear that if all they did that night was making out she would be completely fine with that. 

But Zari hadn't stopped surprising her. She stopped the kissing for a second and she lift herself up to situate herself on top of Charlie, straddling her.  
And only then she glued her lips to Charlie's one more time. 

"I've never done this before—"

She whispered on her lips, giving them a little break.  
She wanted Charlie. She wanted to spend the night with her, but she was also scared.  
She didn't have any experience in pleasing girls and she was afraid she wouldn't be good enough for Charlie. After all, the girl had a lot of experience. 

"You're quite good at it though."

Zari smiled and bit her lower lip. Those words somehow gave her back her confidence. She did know how to please a girl after all. She pleased herself all the time. Why would this be any different? 

She went back to kissing Charlie and she allowed herself to slowly run her hands on her fishnet covered thighs, reaching her skirt, her belly, just to cup one breast with her right hand and brush her hair one more time with the other. 

As soon as she realized she didn't had to hold back anymore, Charlie hands went straight on Zari's ass. 

"I knew you couldn't wait to jump me—" 

"You're so hot I don't even care you're annoying."

Zari sighed as she took her kisses to Charlie's neck.  
The more she touched her, the more she longed for more. The growing warm sensation between her legs reminding her of the dream she had last night and how she was so close to find out how incredibly better it would feel to actually be with Charlie. It was already better than dreaming. 

The girl chuckled at her words, then sighed as she felt her kisses.  
Zari had moved her weight to one side, just so she could press her warm center against Charlie thigh. 

Suddenly, she stopped kissing her. She lift up and got on her feet. 

"You haven't showed me your bedroom yet."

She said, trying to put on a sexy voice as she pulled off her jeans, kicked them away, then turned around.  
She walked toward the room she supposed was the bedroom and she took her shirt off as well.  
She was as surprised as Charlie was by her initiative. She could have never imagined she would be so straightforward during her first time with a woman. But Charlie had that effect on her. She was able to drive her crazy, even sexually as it turned out. 

Charlie stared at the girl as she got rid of her jeans. She gazed at her body and felt that attraction she had felt since she saw her the first time.  
Zari was incredibly hot and the initiative she was showing was turning her on even more. 

For a moment, Zari feared Charlie wouldn't follow her. That she would tell her she didn't want to have sex with a newbie. But her fears were quickly shut down as Charlie walked into the room wearing nothing but that smirk that drove her crazy. 

Zari's breath stopped for a while as she stared at the masterpiece that was in front of her.  
Charlie's naked body was everything she had imagined and more.  
She was perfect. That was the first word that came to Zari's mind. Charlie was painfully perfect and she was fully aware of that. 

Charlie on the other hand was enjoying the look on Zari's face as she stared at her. She could see lust on her gaze and that was such a big turn on for her she decided to stretch that moment for as long as she could.  
She kept looking at Zari. Her body only covered by a bra and her panties. That body she had wanted to shag since she first saw her, but now she knew it would be different.  
Now she had some kind of connection with that girl, a connection that would probably make that night better than it could have been if they had slept together right away. 

When Charlie finally kissed her again, Zari gasped at the touch of her body against hers.  
Charlie's hand went up her back to free her of the bra.  
Their breasts were pressed together as they both slowly fell on the mattress. 

They were lying on the bed now. Charlie was on top of her and Zari had a flashback to the steamy dream she had had the night before. Never could have she imagined this was going to happen. 

"Charlie—" 

A moan escaped Zari's mouth as Charlie started to leave soft kisses on the skin of her neck.  
She was longing for more. She needed more. 

"Are you sure you want this?" 

Charlie stopped the kissing just to check with her one more time.  
Zari stared at her beautiful eyes for a second too long, realizing how much Charlie really cared.  
Her thoughtfulness made her surer than she already was. 

"More than I've ever wanted anything in my entire life."

That was probably an hyperbole, but she really meant that in that moment.  
She was desperate for Charlie's touch and that brought her to kiss the girl for the millionth time as she gently brushed her back. 

Charlie started lowering her kisses one more time, slowly reaching the roundness of her breasts. Her tongue doing things that made Zari shiver with anticipation. 

"Charlie— Please."

She shamelessly begged for more, but Charlie kept moving frustratingly slow. She was leaving kisses on her stomach now as her hands caressed Zari's inner thighs.  
Zari's legs were already spread, waiting for her, begging for her. 

"I don't want to rush. I want to savor this."

Charlie whispered on her right hip, smirking against her skin.  
She was enjoying her neediness too much.  
She kept leaving soft kisses on her pelvis area, on her inner thigh, slowly making her way to her outer lips. 

Zari's body contracted as she felt that touch. She had longed for it but she wasn't ready for how intense even the slightest touch would be.  
She could feel her wetness and she was almost embarrassed by how much of it was there, but she was mostly eager to feel Charlie tongue taking care of her. 

Charlie enjoyed teasing Zari and that wasn't any different in bed. She left a soft kiss on her outer lip, then went back to the inner thigh.  
She could feel Zari's frustration growing and she was so turned on by the wetness she could already feel on her lips. 

"Oh god, you're so annoying" 

Zari complained as she tilted her head back. Her body responding to her growing excitement.  
When she least expected it, Charlie dipped her tongue between her inner lips, making her gasp from how good that felt.  
From that moment on, it was all a crescendo of explosive sensations.  
Charlie's tongue and lips were pleasuring her in the most heavenly way. She kept moving her hips toward her face, always wanting more.  
Zari was moaning loudly as Charlie sucked her clit hard and helped herself with her fingers. 

Before she knew it, Zari's body was spasming as she reached the highest pick of pleasure she had ever reached.  
If her mind wasn't completely busy with those sensations she would have probably been embarrassed of climaxing so quickly, but she didn't care.  
Her whole body collapsed on the bed as her heart was beating fast. 

Charlie kept her tongue between her legs, still enjoying the taste as she gathered her juice.  
When she finally came up, she situated herself back on top of Zari, her face facing hers. 

"Did I just gave you the best orgasm of your life?" 

She smirked as she enjoyed the look of pure bliss on Zari's face. 

"You're so cocky."

"I'm starting to think that's a turn on for you."

"Oh shut up."

Zari rolled her eyes but smiled right after.  
She was really having the best sex of her life and she didn't want to be done with it. 

"Make me."

Zari didn't need to hear that twice.  
She lift her head and kissed her, switching to be on top. 

"It's my turn now."

She whispered on her lips as her hand wandered on her body, tracing the roundness of her breasts, playing with her nipples, slowly heading toward her hip, her belly.  
When she finally reached her destination, she hesitated for a second, before sliding her fingers between Charlie's lips.  
She had never done this with someone else, she only knew what it felt like to please herself. And right now she was discovering how pleasing could it be to do that for someone else. She enjoyed the warm slippery sensation, but most of all she was enjoying feeling how much Charlie was turned on.  
She looked her in the eyes, asking for reassurance she was doing it right.  
Charlie nodded, encouraging her to make her movements firmer. 

"I wanna taste you."

Zari said all of a sudden, leaving behind every inhibitions.  
She removed her hand from between Charlie's legs as she left kisses on her way toward her center. 

When her lips were near the girl's belly button, she stopped, lifting her eyes to look at her. 

"Will you tell me if I do something wrong?" 

She asked, looking for reassurance. Maybe she was also trying to understand if Charlie trusted her to do it. After all, she hadn't ever done it before. There were endless things that she could do wrong. 

"Of course. I love making fun of you, remember?" 

Charlie joked and somehow that made Zari laugh as well. It was incredible how Charlie's joke was actually able to relieve the tension. 

"I hate you. I was being serious!" 

She gave her a little bump on the hip, then glared at her. 

"Fine, I'll tell you what to do if you need. Just remember you don't have to do it if you don't feel like it and you can stop at any time."

She did that again. She turned her on by being so caring and thoughtful.  
Zari didn't say anything. She just dove toward Charlie's center, dipping her tongue between her lips like she was licking a fucking ice cream.  
She had no idea if she was doing it right or not, she only knew she liked that unfamiliar taste. 

"Mmh—" 

Without even realizing it, she let out an appreciating sound. The same kind of sounds she made when she ate her favorite food. 

"Deeper" 

Charlie instructed her in a moan.  
Seeing how much Zari was enjoying eating her out was the hottest thing she had ever witnessed. It was such a turn on she had to pull her sheets with the hand that was not on Zari's head. 

 

"God, I can't believe it was your first time."  
Charlie sighed after she climaxed a few minutes later. She was impressed and still light-headed after the intensity of the orgasm Zari just gave her. 

"What can I say? I'm good at eating snacks."


	7. Chapter 7

After she woke up, it took Zari a couple of seconds before starting to freak out.  
She was in Charlie's bed. Both of them completely naked. How wasn't it all a dream?  
She couldn't believe she had actually had sex with her. More than once. 

Charlie was sleeping soundly beside her and Zari let herself gaze in her direction for a while.  
Charlie looked so peaceful, so adorable, so beautiful while sleeping.  
She could actually see herself waking up next to her every morning and that thought freaked her out once again. She couldn't allow herself to even think about something like that. 

She quietly got out of bed and started to fetch up her clothes.  
She had just spent the night with a girl she was developing feelings for and the thought of her feelings not being reciprocated terrified her.  
So she panicked even more.  
She had to go. She had to get out of there and try to came up with a solution to manage to accept that night would be probably everything she would ever get with Charlie. 

Her phone was dead, but the clock in Charlie's living room told her she was late for work.  
Of course it was already eleven in the morning. How could have she possibly woken up earlier when she had spent the entire night awake? 

_______________

"Sorry I'm late. Do you have any toothpaste in your personal bathroom?" 

"Yes— Where have you been? I was worried, you weren't answering none of our text.  
Are you wearing the same clothes from last night?  
Oh for Beebo! Sara was right!" 

"Whatever Sara told you, she wasn't right.  
My phone is dead, by the way. Can I borrow your charger?"

She only waited for Ray to nod, before heading into his personal bathroom. Being friends with your boss had definitely its perks.  
She washed her face thoroughly, trying to cancel any sign of the sleepless night she had just spent.  
The more she looked in the mirror though, the more she had to admit how glowing she was.  
She had just spent the best night of her life and that definitely showed on her face.  
How could she possibly come to term with the fact that she'll probably never have more than a one night stand with Charlie? 

_______________

"Don't ask, I won't say anything."

She warned Ray as she sitted on the chair in front of his desk.  
She said she didn't want to talk about it but she also kind of wanted to, so she just stayed there, knowing Ray would keep asking eventually. 

"Okay, well, I will. I think I'm in love. I'm definitely in love."

Ray said with the happiest smile on his face.  
Zari blankly stared at him as if he was joking.  
That was definitely something she wasn't expecting. 

"What?"  
"I'm in love with Nora."  
"Nora? Haven't you met her yesterday?"  
She was genuinely confused, but not surprised.  
If someone could fall for a girl they just met that was definitely Ray. 

"Yes, I'm in love with her. She invited me at her place when I gave her a ride home and we talked all night. It was amazing."

"You just talked?"  
"Yes, of course." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Something tells me that was not what she was thinking about when she invited you in."  
"Why?" 

Zari shook her head and sighed with exasperation. Ray could be so naive sometimes. 

"Well, she was probably thinking about something more resembling what me and Charlie did."  
"So now you wanna talk about it? What happened? Sara betted twenty dollars on you two sleeping together."

"She did what?"  
"I said you probably just slept in since you went home late and that was why you weren't answering your phone. She won, didn't she?"  
"You were really betting on my private life? I—"  
She stopped mid-sentence, shaking her head.  
"Why am I not surprised? Okay, I'll just go to work. Unbelievable."  
She shook her head once again and got up the chair, heading toward the door. 

"I told them it wasn't a good idea."

"Anyways, Sara won, but don't tell her yet. I'll call her later."  
She said at least. She needed to tell someone and the moment she did, it all felt more real. Somehow scarier. 

"Okay. Do you wanna talk about it?"  
Like always, Ray was the kind of friend you can't get mad at.  
She went straight back into the chair, more ready than ever to let out everything that was bugging her since she left Charlie's apartment. 

"You know I don't like to talk about these kind of stuff, but I really need to get this off my chest."  
She burst out, speaking quickly, like she couldn't wait to let it all out. 

"Of course, Z. I'm here for you. You can tell me anything."  
Ray assured her, wondering why she looked so upset even though she also looked kind of happy. How could that be possible? 

"It was amazing. It was the best night of my life and I'm not exaggerating. It truly was.  
She made me feel things I didn't even know was possible feeling. She's incredible." 

Zari didn't feel any kind of embarrassment talking about that kind of stuff with Ray.  
They had the kind of friendship in which they could literally talk about anything. 

"So what's the problem?" Ray asked, noticing the distress in her voice.  
"The problem is I realized I'm developing feelings."

She admitted for the first time out loud and she was struck by how crazy that sounded, at least to her.  
She was not the kind of person who develops feelings so quickly. It took her months to get close to Sara when they first met.  
How was it even possible she had became so fond of Charlie in so little time? 

"Is that a bad thing?"  
"Yes, indeed. She obviously only wanted a one night stand. She even sang about it while looking at me. I have to get over her."  
She stated in the most detached voice she could manage.  
She was being vulnerable and she didn't like it, even though she was with someone she trusted completely.  
"Or you could try talking to her."  
"Why would I do something like that?"  
She hadn't even considered that possibility. 

"Well, you obviously shared a connection last night. Maybe things changed for her. Maybe she fell for you as well."

She heard his words, but she didn't even allow her brain to process them. 

"I didn't say I fell for her, I'm only starting to develop feelings. Weren't you paying attention?  
I need to just cut it off completely until they wear off."  
She said firmly, crossing her arms to her chest.  
She wouldn't even consider Ray could be right. She just couldn't handle the way she would feel if she had to deal with the consequences of her heart being broken. So she had to prevent herself from getting hurt.  
That was what she had been doing her whole life and she wouldn't stop now. 

"Okay, I'm going to work for real now. Thank you for listening, Ray."

_______________

Needless to say, Charlie was a whole hour late for her appointment with Nora. 

She had woken up in her empty bed as usual. She was used to it, but this time she felt some kind of disappointment.  
She found herself hoping Zari would have stayed for breakfast or something.  
She guessed she was probably late for work and that was the reason she had sneaked out early, but that didn't prevent her from still wishing she hadn't. 

 

"You're late."

"Well, I'm here now."

Charlie welcomed her friend with a huge smile as she sat on the chair, managing to put her legs on the armrest. 

"Why do you look so happy?" 

Nora asked, noticing her friend seemed to be in an unusual good mood. 

"I think I might have a girlfriend pretty soon."  
She admitted with a goofy smile on her face.

"Okay, you have five minutes to tell me what happened, then we have to start working on your deposition."

Nora said with an efficient tone, even though she was quite curious of knowing what happened when she left the pub with Ray the night before. She had known Charlie for a while now and she had never said something like that. 

"Turned out Zari isn't straight after all."

"Did she tell you that?" 

"Oh girl, she did more than telling me."

The allusive smirk on her face would have made pretty clear for everybody what she was talking about. 

"Did you two have sex?"  
"More than once."  
She nodded, reliving in her mind everything that happened that night.  
She had never felt more alive in her entire life.  
Sharing that kind of connection with Zari had been different than everything she had ever felt. It was not just about the sex. There was something about Zari that made her want to be with her in any possible way. 

"You've been luckier than me then. I spent the night with Ray and we just talked."

Nora complained, snorting right after. 

"You and Ray? I didn't see that coming."

"Of course you didn't. You were too busy flirting with Zari to notice anything else."

"You're not wrong about that."

 

"Charlie, you're here. What happened? Sara just told me you and Zari had sex! You made me lose a bet! Couldn't you wait for like one day?" 

Ava entered the room, right after Sara texted her with the news. 

"Did she already tell her?" 

It was all Charlie asked, with a quite satisfied smirk on her face.  
She assumed Zari couldn't stop thinking about her just as much as her. 

"Oh I can't believe it. I'm never going to hear the end of it. She's going to brag about being right for ages." 

"Aren't you happy I got shagged? Wait, when did you two bet? Did you know there was a chance she wasn't straight? Did Sara told you?" 

"She told me last night, when she convinced me to leave early."

"Why did you bet we wouldn't shag? Have you met me?" She made a point of looking offended. 

"I always bet against Sara. It's what we do. And Zari just came out. I thought she needed more time before hooking up with you."

"Needing more time? She basically jumped me."

"Okay, now you're just bragging."

Nora commented, rolling her eyes. 

"Why didn't you jump him as well if you wanted to so badly?" 

"Have you met him? He is so cute and naive, I would have felt like I was trying to corrupt him and steal his innocence!" 

"Aw, Nora Darhk is getting soft."

"Okay, time's up. We need to get to work. Now."

"Did I hear correctly? Did Zarlie happen?" 

A more than ecstatic Mona burst into the room, squeaking.  
Nora rolled her eyes. When would they finally get to work? 

_______________

After the end of her meeting with Nora, Charlie took her phone and decided to text Zari.  
She hadn't done it before because she didn't want to come off as clingy, but now she just had to. She didn't want her to think that night hadn't meant anything for her. 

«Hey, Z. Sucks that you had to leave that early.  
You could have woken me up, I wouldn't have mind.  
Just wanted to thank you for tonight. It was amazing. Wish you could have stayed for breakfast with donuts. xx» 

She wasn't used to send those kind of texts and she checked it a lot of times before hitting send.  
She needed to make sure Zari knew she wanted to see her again and not just for sex.  
She wasn't the relationship type, she hadn't had a serious one since forever, but she wasn't against them.  
She had always said to herself that had the right person come along she would be willing to do the whole relationship thing. And she kept having the sensation Zari was that person.  
Everything about her made her want to be with her. She felt like that since they first met, but now she could finally admit it to herself.  
She could actually see herself falling in love with the girl. 

 

When Zari read that message, she was confused. She didn't expect it.  
She read it for an exaggerated amount of time, until she knew it by heart.  
What did that mean? Did she text like that all her one night stand? Or was it her way to let her know she wanted to keep being her friend? That would make sense, since they had to keep seeing each other anyway, with their best friends dating and all.

It took her almost an hour before being able to type a reply.  
«Hi Charlie. Sorry about that, I didn't wanna wake you.  
I had a great time too. Thanks.  
Wish you would have told me about the donuts, that would have made me happy to be late for work even more than I already was.»

She couldn't shake off the feeling that text was the weirdest thing ever to send after a hook up and that was why she had to reread and edit a million times, before finally hitting send.  
She promised herself she wouldn't text her anymore after that. She needed to give herself enough time to get over the rollercoaster of emotions she was feeling. She had to get over her before she eventually had to see her again. And she knew that would happen sooner or later.


	8. Chapter 8

Zari kept the promise she had made to herself.  
For the whole week after her encounter with Charlie, she hadn't seen her or texted her. She just replied with an excuse every time Charlie asked to see her. She always assumed it was a booty call and as much as she wanted to be with her, she always forced herself to find an excuse to say no. She needed time to get over her, and Sara constantly talking about how she should agree to see her wasn't helping. 

"Okay, but what could go wrong? You're clearly into each other!" 

"For the millionth time, Sara, she's not into me like that. She only wants to casually hook up and I couldn't deal with having to pretend I don't have feelings for her."

She explained with frustration as they were eating pizza on Sara's couch.  
She thought that Sara, more than anybody else, would understand her willingness to avoid at all costs having her heart broken. 

"But why would you have to pretend? Just talk to her. Tell her you like her and you don't want your relationship to be casual."

"And then what? Should I also tell her I'm in love with her? I met her like five minutes ago and I'm not Ray."

She stubbornly argued, shoving some fries into her mouth right after.  
She knew her friends were only trying to convince her to do something that — according to their opinions — would make her happy, but she knew for a fact that wasn't true.  
Sara was the one who told her in the first place that Charlie liked to sleep around. What made her change her mind like that? 

Sara sighed in exasperation, biting her tongue to prevent herself from saying what she was itching to say, but she had made a promise to her girlfriend and she intended to keep it. 

"You might not be in love with her yet, but you clearly have feelings for her.  
It's been a week since you two slept together and you're still talking about her. Isn't this telling?" 

"Okay, I'll just shut up about her then. I am perfectly capable of talking about something else."

Zari stated with determination, knowing too well that would be a difficult thing for her to do.  
No matter how hard she tried it seemed like there was nothing she could do to stop thinking about that girl.  
What was even that special about her? She was just an annoyingly cocky hot girl. Why wasn't she able to get her out of her head?  
The scary thing was she already knew the answers to those questions. 

"That was not what I meant. I'm just saying you should give her a chance.  
I mean, look at me and Ava. She could have run away the minute she knew I liked to sleep around, but she didn't. She took a chance on me and now we are disgustingly in love."

Zari kept chewing the bite of pizza she had just had. She didn't say anything and just averted her eyes. She needed to think.  
Deep down she knew Sara might be right and she also knew her friend would never encourage her toward Charlie if there wasn't a chance Charlie might actually want to be with her.  
Did that mean…? 

"Wait, did Ava tell you something? About Charlie, I mean."

She couldn't help but asking. It was the only explanation she could came up on why she was so insisting. Maybe she knew something Zari didn't. 

"Nope."

Sara lied with a shrug, looking anywhere except toward Zari's eyes. 

She had always been a bad liar. That lie could only mean one thing.  
Sara and Ava talked about them, about Beebo knew what.  
She just nodded and forced herself to drop the conversation there.  
She didn't want her friend to betray her girlfriend's trust.  
But now she couldn't shake off the thought that maybe Charlie felt the same thing. Maybe that was the thing Sara knew. Maybe she should accept one of her invitations after all.

_______________

"I'm trying to figure out if she's ignoring me or if she's just very busy."

Charlie wondered, perplexed, as she was sitting cross-legged on her couch.  
She had tried so hard all week to see Zari, but the girl always had something else to do and she was starting to wonder whether she actually didn't want to see her. 

"But why would she ignore me? That wouldn't make any sense. I'm awesome!" 

"Maybe she is really busy. You should try to ask her out one more time."

Ava suggested, trying to figure out what the best way to accomplish her mission was.  
She and Sara both agreed they would have talked to their friends and help them get together, since it was obviously what they both wanted. 

"I don't know, I don't want to come off as pushy. If she doesn't want to date me, I can accept that. That's fine. I can take rejection.  
I just don't understand why is she ignoring me. We had such a good time together. I can't think of a single reason why she wouldn't date me."

Charlie thought out loud, desperately trying to figure out what went wrong.  
The only reason she could actually came up with to explain Zari's detachment during that week was her freaking out because of her first time with a girl. But still, she didn't seem like the kind of person who freaks out about something like that. She had looked really confident in her newfound sexuality instead. That wouldn't make any sense. 

"But did you tell her you want to date her?" 

Ava inquired, trying in every possible way to make sure Charlie made that clear, since Sara told her that was the only reason keeping Zari from saying yes.  
If just the two of them had told each other how they really felt, now she and Sara wouldn't be working that hard to get them together. 

"Well, not explicitly."

"Maybe you should do that?"

"What? Asking her on a date?" 

"Yeah."

"Like dinner? Wouldn't that be too formal?" 

"No, it would be totally appropriate if you wanna date her.  
Okay, ask her again. I'll help formulate the text."

"There's no need for that, seriously. I'm the queen of flirting. I can handle this."

Charlie took her phone and went on Zari's chat. The number of times she had ignored her messages was almost embarrassing. Maybe she should just give up altogether. But what harm could it be in trying one more time? 

"I'll do it, but I don't need your supervision."

"Fine, just be clear about you wanting to date her, okay?" 

Charlie nodded at Ava's advice, before typing the text she was going to send Zari.  
She had made up her mind. This would have been her last attempt at going out with her.  
If she said no, she wouldn't bother her anymore. She would just go on with her life and forget about how she felt last Sunday night. 

"Can this do? I can't be more obvious than that."

She sent the message, then showed it to Ava, who frowned a little while reading it.

«Hey Z. Are you free tomorrow night?» 

"What? What's wrong with that?" 

"Well, you could have add something like, I don't know 'I was thinking we could have dinner together?' That would have been more obvious."

"Bloody hell, fine. Give me the phone. I can still double text."

She took her phone, but didn't had the time to write something cause Zari was already typing.  
«Yes» was all the text said. Charlie kind of panicked. What the hell did that mean? 

"She said yes. She doesn't seem very enthusiastic, but she said yes."

She surprised herself smiling, even though she was still trying to figure out what that meant. 

«Cool. I was thinking maybe we could have dinner?»  
«Yeah, sounds cool. At my place? I'll order pizza.»  
«Sounds great. See you tomorrow. »

"Wow, that was easier than I expected. I have a date." 

She announced with the biggest smile. She literally couldn't wait to see Zari again. 


	9. Chapter 9

Never would anyone have ever imagined that Charlie, the person who could comfortably flirt with anybody, would be nervous before a date. And yet there she was. Checking her own reflection into the car mirror.  
She looked good as always, but she had to admit she also looked quite anxious.  
She hadn't liked someone as much as she liked Zari in a long while and she couldn't even begin to admit to herself how important was for her that this date went well.  
She really wanted to keep seeing Zari and she was under the impression that night would play a crucial part in that.  
She took a dip breath and took the box of donuts she had brought as dessert. She knew the girl would appreciate them. 

_______________

Zari didn't know exactly what to expect from the evening. She hadn't been able to figure out if they would just hang out or if it was a booty call.  
She would have bet on the latter though and at this point she didn't care. She kind of wanted it to be a booty call.  
After all, everything seemed to point in that direction. The fact that Charlie agreed to meet at her house, the flirty texts they had sent each other ever since. Everything. She had started to think that maybe she should've just learned to enjoy it while it lasted. Was it possible to stop having feelings for her while they hooked up? She hoped it was, but she doubted it very much. 

When she opened the door and saw Charlie with a box full of donuts she was kind of surprised. That wasn't something she was expecting. 

"Oh, you really did bring dessert."

She pointed out the obvious, facepalming herself internally. 

"Why wouldn't I? I told you I would."

Charlie was confused. Did Zari thought she would forget? 

"Well, I thought— Nothing. Come in."

Charlie obeyed and stepped into her flat. A simple look around was enough to tell her Zari's house wasn't as messy as hers. It was a neat, nice, cozy place. 

"Thank you for these."

Zari awkwardly said, taking that box and bringing it into the kitchen. Why was it suddenly starting to feel like an actual date? Booty calls weren't supposed to feel like that, from what she recalled from her limited previous experiences.  
Charlie really decided to bring her favorite food ever. Why did that feel kind of special? 

"Of course. What did you mean earlier?" 

Charlie asked with a certain curiosity.  
What had she saw back then? Was that disappointment or had she imagined it? Why would she be disappointed to see donuts? Maybe she hoped she would have brought something else? That sounded highly unlikely though.

"Oh nothing. You would mock me forever if I told you."

"Try me."

Charlie said, sitting on the kitchen table without asking for permission. Of course there were perfectly fine chairs in Zari's kitchen, but she liked to seat on the most unusual places. It was basically a personality trait. 

"Okay, I might have interpreted your use of emoji the wrong way."

She admitted with her arms crossed to her chest, almost as if she was hugging herself, looking down to avoid eye contact.  
No matter how intimate they had been, she was definitely embarrassed to say that. 

"How…?"

"Well, you used the donut emoji next to that face with a tongue out, so I thought—" she hesitated for a second, then she just said it. "I thought you meant you were the dessert. There. I said it. Now you have five seconds to mock me about it before forgetting I ever said that."

She pointed a finger at her, trying to look threatening but ending up looking very cute at Charlie's eyes. 

Charlie was surprised by that unforeseen confession. She just smirked and licked her lower lip before saying: "well, I can still be your dessert, if you want."

Zari rolled her eyes, trying hard to look pissed. She knew she had to say or do something if she didn't want to end up jumping her now and there. She was staring at Charlie's lips, wanting so bad to kiss them. Why did she always had that effect on her? 

"Let's go in the living room. Pizza is getting cold."

 

"Aww, is this a picture of you as a baby? You were so bloody cute!" 

Charlie smiled at a framed picture of Zari and another kid. Her brother? She took the frame to watch it closer. Zari as a child was the most adorable thing she had ever seen.

Zari froze for a second. She hadn't thought about that. She hadn't thought that Charlie could have seen that picture of her and her brother and ask questions. She wasn't ready to talk about it. She would probably never be. 

"Oh Beebo. That's embarrassing. I wasn't that cute."

She forced herself to act normal while she took the frame from Charlie's hand and put it back on the shelf where it belonged. 

Charlie sensed some shift in Zari's mood and wondered what triggered it. Was it her being too nosy?

"Yes, you definitely were. You still are sometimes, if I must be honest."

She added as if she was just stating a fact. Whatever was it that was going through Zari's mind, she just wanted to make her feel better somehow.

"Is that so, uh?"

Zari couldn't refrain herself from smiling. It was incredible how even the smallest compliment could make her heart sink.  
Her feelings for that girl hadn't decreased at all in the week they hadn't seen each other. If something, they were probably just getting stronger. How was she supposed to deal with that? 

_______________

The more they talked, the more Zari realized she had it all wrong.  
This wasn't a booty call. It looked like Charlie really did want to just hang out, but this confused her. What did that mean? Did Charlie just want to be her friend now? Or did she want to date her? 

"So how did your week go? What kept you so busy?" 

"Well, you know, I just had a lot of work to do."

She lied, lowering her gaze on her hands right after. She felt bad for avoiding her all week.  
Especially now that it looked like all of her assumptions were wrong.

"I have to admit I was beginning to wonder if you weren't avoiding me."

Charlie threw out there. Zari was obviously lying and she would lie if she said she wasn't curious to know why.

"What if I told you I actually was?" 

Zari hesitantly admitted. She didn't like lying to her. She didn't know why but lying to Charlie felt somehow wrong. 

"Okay… I had that feeling. Why? If I might ask."

Charlie was sincerely trying to understand. She wasn't upset at all, she just wanted to know what happened. 

"Well, I freaked out a little after what happened Sunday night."

"You mean after we had sex? Did you regret it?" 

"No, not at all!"  
She hurried to say. She couldn't even bear the thought of Charlie thinking she regretted their night together, not even for a second.  
"I would never regret that. That was incredible.  
As a matter of fact, it was so mind-blowing that it freaked me out."

"Am I that good, uh?" 

Charlie joked with a smug smile.  
Zari rolled her eyes. She was trying to talk about something important, something that was difficult for her to talk about, and there Charlie was. Joking. And the worst part was she wasn't even mad. She liked that part of Charlie. She liked that she was always able to lighten up any kind of conversation, no matter how serious it could be. 

"Please. I'm trying to act like an adult here."

She said anyway, trying to collect all of her courage to put into words what she was trying to say. 

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"So" Zari took a deep breath in. Why was it so hard to talk about that stuff?  
"I freaked out because—" she almost admitted she was developing feelings for her, but then sealed her lips shut. She couldn't say that. 

"Look, you don't need to say anything if you don't feel comfortable. I don't need an explanation."

Charlie reassured her, not wanting to push her.  
She was dying to know what happened, but she didn't want Zari to be uncomfortable or feel forced into saying things she wasn't ready to say. 

But somehow those words gave Zari the strength she needed to formulate her feelings in the right way, or at least in a way that was even remotely the most apt to express how she felt. 

"I freaked out because I realized I wanted more. More than a one night stand, I mean."

Her heart was beating so fast she felt like passing out. If this was what it felt like to have feelings for someone, it was exhausting. Exciting, but exhausting.

"So you were avoiding me because you thought that for me you were just another one night stand."

Zari nodded, waiting for Charlie to react in any kind of way. She couldn't tell if she was pissed, upset or somehow affected by that admission.  
She appeared completely calm. 

"You wanted more, but you said no every time I asked you out?" 

She was sincerely trying to understand what Zari was telling her. It didn't make sense to her. Why would she avoid her if she wanted to spend more time with her as much as she did? Unless… 

"You were asking me out?" 

Zari asked. Charlie's words took her by surprise.  
Had she really been asking her out all week? Was she that rusty to not realize when someone was asking her out? She had been a hundred percent positive she just wanted to have sex with her, not date her. 

"Wasn't that clear?" 

Maybe Ava was right after all. She must have been more explicit. In her defense though, she wasn't used to asking people out. It had been ages since she had been interested in actually dating someone. 

"I'm not used to this. I didn't realize… I thought you just wanted to— you know, have sex."

"Well, of course I want to, but I also wanna date you, Zari."

Charlie said those words like it was the most natural thing ever.  
She wasn't used to date, but she somehow felt like she had been looking for someone like Zari her whole life. She felt she needed to be with her and that made her completely comfortable in expressing the way she felt. 

Zari stayed silent for a while.  
Did she really hear that? Did Charlie really say she wanted to date her or was she just imagining what she wanted to hear?  
She couldn't believe Charlie really wanted the same thing. Did she torture herself all week for nothing when she could have just talked to her?  
She didn't say a word. She just leaned forward and kissed her. Her right hand gently brushing against Charlie cheek. Her heart beating fast as she gave in in that slow, meaningful kiss. 

Charlie was kissing her back. Her heart racing as well. Zari was able to make her feel things she had never felt before. That was how she knew she was special. 

"I can't believe Sara was right. Talking really helps."

Zari joked when she parted her lips from Charlie's. The soft smile that was on her face spoke volumes about how relieved she felt. 

"Yeah, it usually does."

_______________

"So since I bought ice cream for dessert, I was thinking we could save the donuts for breakfast tomorrow morning."

Zari said when the evening was almost over. She flinched immediately when she realized what she had just assumed. 

"Not that I'm implying you'll spend the night here. I was just saying, we could split them when you leave. Not that I want you to leave, I—" 

Charlie let out a laugh and stopped that flow of words by laying her index finger on Zari's mouth and letting out a 'shhh' sound. She had such a cute way of panicking. 

"I'll stay. I want to. I could even be your dessert if that's what you crave."

She whispered, keeping her finger right where it was.

Zari blushed. She felt like her heart had stopped beating for a second, just to pound back faster in her chest.  
She just stood still, gazing into Charlie's mesmerizing eyes, trying to overcome the rush of emotions that struck her with that contact. 

"You've been waiting all night to say that, haven't you?" 

She managed to articulate as she backed her head to free her lips from Charlie's touch.  
Would she ever get used to Charlie's proximity in a way that didn't turn her into an over-emotional horny mess? 

"Maybe."

Charlie smiled, licking her upper lip as she lowered her hand and rested it on Zari's thigh. They were sitting so close on that couch. 

Zari swallowed before daring to say another word.  
For some reason, knowing that this time it wouldn't be a one night stand, that they would date, that they would probably have a relationship, made everything even more intense. She was overwhelmed by her own emotions.  
She didn't know that was possible, she didn't even know if her body and brain could handle all those feelings. 

"You know what? I'm not hungry for ice cream anymore."

She managed to mumble as she leaned forward to catch Charlie's lips in a kiss.  
She was everything she wanted right now. 

Charlie kissed her back, slowly, like she wanted to savor every single moment. There were sparks in her chest as their tongues chased each other in that passionate dance.  
She had a feeling their second night together would even top the first one. 

Zari would have never imagined she could feel the way Charlie made her feel. She had this deep urge to kiss her, touch her, feel her body against hers. She had never wanted someone so much in her whole life. She felt draw to her in a way she now knew she couldn't fight, not even if she wanted to. And she didn't. Not anymore.  
She soon found herself straddling her, without even remembering when she did it.  
Her hand, the one that was not tangled through Charlie's hair had started to explore her body, sliding under her shirt.

"Zari—" 

Charlie sighed on her lips as her hands were busy exploring Zari's body once again.  
She gazed into the girl's dark eyes and she felt like she could get lost in there. She could see all the lust she was feeling as well and that turned her on even more. 

"I love the way you jump me."

She finally said with a smirk as she tilted her head to the right, giving Zari enough space to attack her neck. 

"I hate it. You turn me into a horny mess."

Zari joked, leaving a kiss after each word. She wasn't embarrassed at all to admit that Charlie had somehow made her sex drive go up like crazy. She was constantly horny for her and she had no idea if that was normal. She only knew it appeared to be reciprocated. That was all that mattered. 

"I guess that's one of my superpowers."

She moaned as a warm sensation kept growing between her legs. And things got even worse when Zari decided it was time to free herself from her shirt.  
Charlie gasped when she realized the suspicions she had had all night were right: Zari wasn't wearing a bra.  
She stared at her chest, burning with desire, her mouth watering at the sight of the girl's hard nipples.  
She swallowed, then laid her lips on Zari's neck, leaving kisses that slowly led her to her chest.  
Zari threw her head back as Charlie's tongue circled slowly her right nipple, her hand mirroring the same motions on the other one. 

"Shit, that feels good."

She let out with an heavy sigh as her hand kept lightly pressing Charlie's head against her breast. The girl really knew how to please every single nerve of her body. 

Charlie smiled against her skin and kept going for she didn't know how long. Hearing Zari's sigh and moan was the hottest thing ever. So hot that she unwittingly started to rock her pelvis to somehow accommodate her body's needs.  
Zari must have noticed, cause she slid her hand between her legs, pressing against her center.

"I wanna kiss you."

Zari demanded and Charlie obeyed, lifting her head to find the girl's lips once again.  
She kissed her passionately while both her hands were busy unbuttoning her pants. She locked eyes with her to ask for permission and when she nodded, she slid her hand inside Charlie's panties and dipped her fingers inside the pool of warm that was between her lips. 

Charlie gasped in pleasure at Zari's touch. She was so sensitive even the slightest pressure made her head spin. She spread her legs more, allowing Zari's fingers to move freely. 

Zari kept staring into Charlie's eyes as her fingers were shyly yet firmly try to give her pleasure. She attentively checked for Charlie's reaction any time she changed up her movements. The way she moaned guiding her, telling what she liked the most. This was only the second time she was doing that, but she was pretty proud for already being able to please her in such a way. 

"Oh god. Keep going please. Don't stop."

Zari gladly obeyed, surer in her movements. Watching the effect she was having on Charlie was getting her worked up. So much that she didn't even realize she was rocking her pelvis in such a way that the hard fabric of her jeans was rubbing against her pulsing center, doing all the work for her. 

Charlie was the first one to give in the pleasure. Her body spasming, her mouth letting out uncontrolled moans. Those sounds were the ones who sent Zari over the edge, climaxing without even needing for Charlie to touch her.  
When she was done, she just collapsed toward Charlie and kissed her slowly. She felt so good she just wanted to stay there forever. 

"That was unfair. I wanted to eat you out."

Charlie jokingly complained when they parted their lips. She was cupping Zari's cheek, caressing her with her thumb. When did she become this soft? Zari really put her under her spell. 

"The night is still young."

________________

Waking up next to Charlie the morning after was way different than the first time that happened.  
This time, she didn't freak out. She didn't feel the urge to run. She just stayed there, laying on her side, gazing at the wonderful girl sleeping soundly next to her.  
She remembered thinking she could get used to waking up like this and this time that thought crossed her mind again, but now she knew that was actually a possibility.  
She smiled softly as she kept staring at Charlie's peaceful face. She was so seraphically beautiful in that moment that Zari was afraid of doing even the slightest movement and risking waking her up.  
She wanted to enjoy that sight for as long as she could. She wanted to soak in every detail, remember it forever. 

She didn't know for how long she just stayed there, completely still. The only thing that jerked her out of her state of wonder were the light moans that escaped Charlie's mouth as she started to wake up.  
Zari took that as her cue for allowing herself to move. She slid slowly toward the center of her mattress, toward Charlie and wrapped her arm around her waist. She still couldn't believe she was actually doing that, she was actually allowing herself to be so tender with someone.

"Good morning…"

Zari whispered with a soft smile as Charlie opened her sleepy eyes. A slumberous smile brightened her face. She was so beautiful Zari's heart almost stopped. 

"Morning, babe…" 

Charlie mumbled as she locked eyes with her, straightening her arms up for a little stretch, before turning to one side to face Zari.  
The girl's heart jumped as she heard Charlie calling her 'babe'. She wasn't expecting it, but she liked it. She could get used to it. 

Charlie wiggled near Zari, left a soft kiss on her collarbone then let her head rest on Zari's naked breast.

Zari was hyper-aware of her heart racing in her chest and she knew Charlie could probably hear it, but she didn't say anything nor she ran. She just stayed there and started to brush the girl's hair with her fingers.  
The thought that only yesterday this would've have seemed an impossible dream to her was amazing.  
It all still felt surreal. Was it really happening? Was she dreaming? If she was, she sure as hell didn't want to wake up. 

"Your heart… Do I always have that effect on you?" Charlie eventually pointed out with a smile that Zari couldn't see, but knew damn well was there. 

"What do you think?" She managed to sigh back, figuring Charlie wouldn't miss the chance to be smug about it.  
Instead, she just kissed the soft spot at the top of her breast, before propping herself up and look at her straight in the eyes. 

"I think I'm really glad Ava dragged me to that pilates thing." 

Charlie said, really meaning that.  
A soft, slow kiss followed and Zari feared she might actually have an heart attack from the way she was feeling. Her heart felt like exploding. She had never felt something that intense in her whole life, not in such a good way at least.  
It was insane how she could manage to be confident and straightforward when they were having sex, but in those moments when she felt the most vulnerable her heart would start acting up in the craziest ways. 

"I'm glad too." Was everything she managed to whisper as her trembling hand caressed Charlie's cheek.  
She would have never been able to put into words just how much her life had changed since she met Charlie. She felt like a completely different person, but she also had never felt more like herself. 

"Okay, should we go eat those donuts now? I'm hungry."

Zari managed to say. She had to say something to prevent herself from turning into an emotional mess. Besides, she really couldn't wait to eat those donuts.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody! 
> 
> Uploading this last chapter is making me emotional. This is the first fanfic I've ever completed and this says a lot about how much Zarlie means to me. 
> 
> So I just wanna take a second to thank every single one of you who read, left kudos and commented. Thank you so much for taking the time to give my story a chance.  
> When I first write it I was like "even if only one person reads it, it'll be worth it" and seeing now that more than one person read it and even liked it fills my heart with joy and gratitude.  
> I'll better shut up now and leave you to the chapter.  
> Hope you enjoy it!

"How do I look?" 

"You look smoking hot, girl. Charlie will lose her mind."

Zari smiled at Sara's words, biting her lower lip as she checked herself in the mirror once again. She wasn't used to wear dresses. She'd rather dress comfy than fancy, but the special occasion was definitely worth it. 

"Is it weird I'm nervous about the date? I mean, it's not like we haven't seen each other naked countless of times. Why am I nervous?" 

"It's totally normal, Z. It's your first date as a couple. No matter how much time you have spent together or how many time you’ve had sex, it's a special occasion."

"Not to mention I'm not used to dates. How am I supposed to act?" 

She was so nervous she had to call Sara to help her pick an outfit and calm her down. 

"Just be yourself. It's not like she doesn't like you already."

Zari nodded unconvinced, smoothing out the folds of her dress.  
It had been almost two weeks since she had talked things through with Charlie and they had been pretty much inseparable since then. As much as time allowed.  
They had both been crazy busy with work and their schedules were always so different, they hadn't had time to go out on a real date yet.  
Zari usually went to Charlie's place after work and hung out there until Charlie closed the pub, then they spent the night together at her apartment.  
But that Friday night Charlie said she would take her out for dinner and Zari couldn't be more excited. Terrified, but excited. 

"Should I wear lipstick? Or would that make the kissing weird?" 

She was really overthinking wearing lipstick? What happened to her? It wasn't like they hadn't kissed plenty of times while wearing lipstick. Apparently her brain was desperate for finding new details to obsess over. 

"Girl, you're so new to this. It's so cute."

Sara laughed, before getting up and going to fetch her purse. She came back a few moments later to a still confused Zari.  
Why did she find her freaking out funny?

"Here. Use this. It will not come off."

She handed her a bright red lipstick. Zari took it doubtfully. 

"Isn't this too red?" 

"What are you talking about? It's the perfect shade for that dress."

Zari decided to trust her friend’s judgement and went near the mirror to carefully put on that lipstick.  
When she was done, she felt confident. She had to admit she was looking hot. Her black dress followed her curves smoothly but it also showed off her cleavage. And that red lipstick was definitely the cherry on top.  
She smirked trying to guess Charlie's reaction at seeing her that dressed up. 

"I have to admit it's not that bad. I like it.  
Are you sure it will not go all over her face when I kiss her?" 

"I can assure you it won't move. It will stay put, no matter how much kissing or eating goes on. And by eating I also mean— you know. I tested it."

"Eww, I didn't need to know that!" 

"Oh come on! Don't get all puritan on me. It's not like you and Charlie aren't fucking like bunnies all the time."

"Why do I even tell you things anymore?" 

She complained, rolling her eyes as she sitted on the top of her bed to put on her heels. She would even wear high heels. Something that didn't happen often. 

"Because you can't help it. Who else would you talk to about how many orgasms Charlie gives you in a single night?" 

"Oh shut up! That happened one time!" 

" 'Oh Sara, Charlie gave me seven orgasms last night. I didn't even know it was possible. She's so good! Do you think that’s healthy? Am I gonna get an UTI?' " 

Sara kept mocking her with an inaccurate impression of Zari's voice. 

"Stop! I don't talk like that and I didn't say that!" 

"Yes, you did."

"I'm pretty sure the phrasing was different."

"Whatever. My point doesn't change."

Zari scoffed and got up to check the final look in the mirror. 

"Okay, we can go now. I'm ready."

______________________

"Bollocks. This can't be true."

Charlie growled at her phone when she read the message her barman had just sent.  
He was sick and couldn't make it to work tonight.  
'Great' she thought. 'Now I'm gonna be late for my date with my girlfriend just because I'll be too busy finding someone else.'

She took a glimpse at the clock and sighed.  
Zari was probably on her way in that very moment. How could she manage to find someone else in so little time? How could she even find someone else at all five minutes before the start of the shift?  
Sadly, she knew the answer too bloody well. 

______________________

Outside Charlie's pub, Zari found herself needing a moment before going in. She took a deep breath in and surprised herself curving her lips into a smile. She was so ready to finally make it date official with Charlie. 

As she stepped in, she instantly saw her girlfriend — it was still so weirdly exciting to think about her as her girlfriend — and she right away realized something was wrong.  
Why was she behind the bar? Making drinks? Was the barman late or something? She wasn't supposed to work that night.

"Hey." 

She said as she went next to her. Charlie was so busy she hadn't seen her coming in. 

"Hi babe."

She welcomed her with a smile, but Zari could see something was bugging her.  
She just waited there as Charlie finished that drink and handed it to the client. 

"I'll be right back." She said to the next one, as she nodded for Zari to follow her, so they could talk in a most private place. They reached the very corridor Zari had kissed her for the first time and there Charlie allowed herself to glimpse more attentively at the girl's dress.  
She was way more dressed up than usual and that made Charlie feel even sorrier about what she was about to say. She was so gorgeous it would be physically painful for her to tell her they had to call off the date. 

"Wally bailed on me last minute."

"Okay… And?" 

Zari didn't understand how that could be a problem. Weren't there like ten other people working? 

"That means I have to work tonight. I'm so sorry, Z. I was so looking forward to our date, then that bloke decides that it's a good idea to eat sushi and get food poisoning."

"Oh." 

Zari wouldn't be able to describe how she felt in that moment. It was like someone had just punched her in the stomach. 

"I'm so sorry, babe. I really am."

Charlie said, taking both hands in hers and gazing straight into her eyes. She could see how disappointed she was and she felt guilty about that, even though there was nothing she could do. 

"Isn't there someone else that can take your place?" 

"No, I asked to anyone I could think of, but nobody is available with so little notice." 

Zari just nodded. She was at a loss of word. She didn't even know why was she overreacting like that, but she couldn’t pretend to be fine with that. 

"That's fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

She managed to say with a way detached tone as she slipped her hands away from Charlie's. 

"I was hoping you would stay here... We could still hang out as we always do." Charlie proposed with a hopeful sigh. 

"I'm way too overdressed for staying here."

Zari replied with a sarcastic laugh. Where did that come from? 

"And you look gorgeous, by the way."

"Yeah, but not enough for you to take me on a date, apparently."

"What?" 

"Nothing. Sorry. I'll just go home. I don't feel like hanging out tonight."

She sharply said, before turning her back and heading out. 

Charlie was shocked. She had feared Zari would be upset, but she would have never imagined that reaction. 

"Zari, wait!"  
She called out as she rushed to follow her outside. She reached her as she was about to get in the car. 

"What?" 

Zari asked with the most annoyed voice ever. She had never sound that pissed. Not even when they were constantly bickering. 

"I— Are you okay?" It was all Charlie was able to ask. She wasn’t used to be in a relationship. She had no idea how to act or what to say in those kind of situation.

"Yes, I'm fine. I told you."

She lied again, not even knowing why she was so mad. She rationally knew Charlie didn't had a choice, but she couldn’t help being pissed at her and feeling like shit.  
She just went into the car and started the engine. 

Charlie stood there, watching her go, not able to process what had just happened.  
Was that a fight? Did they just had their first fight? 

______________________

As soon as she got home, Zari took off her high heels, her fancy dress, her makeup and slipped into one of her comfy pajamas. She still hadn’t been able to identify what exactly was she feeling. She only knew she needed food. She took a bowl of ice cream from the fridge and put on one of her favorite tv shows on Netflix.

She wasn’t really watching it though, she was just staring at the screen as she kept replaying in her mind everything that had happened with Charlie.  
She was aware she overreacted, she just couldn’t figure out what triggered her that much.

It was like all the things she had feared before their relationship and — who was she kidding — everything she had dreaded her whole life hit her all at once.  
The moment Charlie bailed on her, a storm exploded inside of her. It was like everything she had buried deep down had suddenly came out.  
And Charlie didn't have anything to do with that.  
She felt bad for the way she treated her. That sweet girl who looked so sorry for having to call off their date definitely didn't deserve the way she got pissed for something she had no control over. She sure knew that.  
She took her phone, trying to somehow make it up, but she wasn't even able to imagine what she could say to make it better. 'I'm sorry you have a crazy ass girlfriend?' No, that wouldn't do it. 

So she texted her best friends for a bit instead, then tossed her phone to the side and just kept eating ice cream, realizing only in that moment that her cheeks were wet.  
She didn't know when she had started crying. The possibility of losing what she had with Charlie was so terrifying she couldn't breathe.  
It had been only two weeks. She knew she shouldn't feel like that — it was definitely too soon — but she couldn't help it. She felt so good when she was around Charlie, she wasn't ready to give it up.  
She had actually started to think of Charlie as a constant in her life. She saw a future with her. And yes, it was too soon, but maybe Ray was right. Maybe there was not a predetermined period of time for those kind of things. When you click with someone you just know. You know they're everything you've been unknowingly looking for your whole life. And yes, it was awfully terrifying, but after all — like she told Sara a long time ago — at the end of the day love was worth the risk. Maybe she should just allow herself to take that risk and trust it would be worth it. 

______________________

Charlie was wretched and low-spirited for the rest of the night. No matter how much she forced herself to act normal and do her job, she kept thinking about Zari. She wondered where she was, what was she doing, how was she feeling, what that fight-like conversation meant.  
She had her phone nearby and checked it every five seconds, hoping for a text from Zari and ending up being disappointed when literally everybody else texted.  
She thought about texting her herself a couple of times, but she couldn't bear to do it. She had no idea what she could possibly say and the only thought of Zari ignoring her gave her anxiety. 

"Charlie! What are you doing here? Didn't you have a date?" 

That was how her best friend Nora made her presence known. She wasn't alone though, she was indeed with Ray. Those two had been inseparable since they got together. 

"Long story short, Wally has food poisoning, so I'm stuck here covering his shift instead of having dinner with my girlfriend."

She explained with a sigh. She didn't even tried to hide how pissed she was about it. 

"Oh so that's why Zari was upset." Ray couldn't help commenting. 

"What?" 

"Nothing." He immediately said, realizing he wasn't supposed to talk about what Zari was confiding them on their group chat earlier. 

"Did she tell you something, didn't she?"

Charlie asked, knowing too bloody well they were best friends. What Ray said got her worried even more. 

"I— No, she just—" 

"Why don't you go find us a table, Ray?" Nora came to his rescue with that suggestion and he gratefully complied. 

"So? What happened?" Nora asked with a concerned look. The last thing she wanted was something jeopardizing the relationship that made her friend happier than she ever saw her. 

"I don't know. She took it badly when I told her about the date. I get that she was disappointed, but— I don't know. It looked a lot like a fight. I guess she's mad at me?"

Charlie said with uncertainty, desperate for some kind of advice. Maybe someone else's perspective would help her figuring out what happened and what to do about it. 

"Well, that wouldn't surprise me. I mean, she came all the way here just to find out you weren't going on a date? I would be pissed too."

"Thank you. That's really helpful." Charlie ironically said. 

"What I mean is, that's totally normal. Give her some space to be mad, everybody needs to process their feelings, then go talk to her."

"Woah, Ray is really having a good influence on you. Now you talk about feelings? Are you getting wise or something?" Charlie joked, looking impressed. 

"He's making me soft. I hate him." 

Nora stated, but the smile on her face when she turned her head to gaze at Ray was screaming something different.  
That short moment made Charlie wonder if the way she felt about Zari was just as obvious to everybody else. Was the way she looked at her just as revealing of how she felt about her? Could people tell they were in love just by the way they looked at each other?  
Being in love. Did she really just thought that? Somehow that didn't surprise her. She'd been knowing her feelings for Zari were beyond simple fondness and attraction. And now she was scared she could somehow lose her. 

"Charlie? Are you still there?" 

Nora called out. Charlie had completely zoned out. 

"What? Yes, sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"Something or someone?" 

"Touché. I was obviously thinking about Zari." She admitted, rolling her eyes. What was even the point in trying to deny that?  
"I'm going to make it up somehow. I don't wanna lose her."

"I bet you won't. She's way too into you. Besides, she's a smart girl. She won't let you go."

"Was that a compliment, Darhk?" 

"Don't let it go to your head."

______________________

Something utterly unusual happened that Saturday morning: Charlie woke up early. No, she didn't wake up early, cause that would imply she had slept. She hadn't been able to actually sleep that night. She kept trying to and failing. She just couldn’t wait for the night to be over so she could go at Zari's place and talk to her. 

And that was why, not long after dawn, she found herself outside Zari's apartment with sweaty hands and a racing heart, holding a box full of donuts and balancing two iced coffees on top. 

"Hi, it's me! I brought donuts and iced coffee as a peace offer."

She hurried to say with a nervous smile when a sleepy Zari opened the door.  
She was so breathtakingly beautiful and cute in her pajama that Charlie's heart stopped for a moment. Would it ever stop doing that? Would it ever get used to the effect Zari had on her? 

"Charlie— Isn't like— seven in the morning?" Zari yawned, still half-asleep, not really sure of what was going on. Then it hit her at once. She remembered everything that happened last night. That was why Charlie was talking about a peace offer.

"Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry, I should have texted you before coming here. I should have waited until later. I—" 

Charlie started to blurt out. That was something Zari usually did in their relationship, but that morning Charlie was a nervous mess, scared of saying something wrong and making things worse. 

"Charlie, breath." 

Zari interrupted her with a small smile. She was somehow calmer. Seeing Charlie there had shut down all of her fears. She was relieved to see her, because if she was there bearing gifts it meant she was willing to fix things between them.

"It's fine. I'm glad you woke me up. I wanted to see you."

"Did you?" Charlie couldn't help but sound surprised. 

Zari nodded. "Are you coming in or..?" 

"Do you want me to?" 

"Of course I want you to." 

She didn't think she would need to say that, but then it hit her. She really did mess things up last night if Charlie was that insecure. The same Charlie that usually was the most confident and fearless person she had ever met. 

Charlie didn't need to hear that twice, she stepped into the apartment and started to somehow relax. If only a little bit. Zari didn't look mad anymore. Maybe Nora was right. 

"I know it's quite early, but I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about last night. Will you forgive me?" 

Zari couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was the one who should be apologizing, not Charlie.  
She just took a deep breath and sighed. How did she get so lucky? What did she do to deserve a girlfriend as sweet and understanding as Charlie was? 

"You don't have anything to be forgiven for, babe."

"No?" 

"No." Zari confirmed as she walked toward her. She brushed her hands as she took the box of donuts and left a soft kiss on her lips, before heading toward the couch. 

"I'm confused. You were very upset last night, I thought you hated me for calling off our date."

She couldn't help saying as she sitted on the couch, immediately finding a way to get her feet off the ground. 

"I could never hate you, Charlie." Zari said, a little startled. She felt guilty for giving Charlie reasons to think that.  
"I'm the one who should be apologizing. I freaked out and overreacted. I'm sorry for what I said and I'm sorry for making you think it was your fault. I know you didn't have a choice."

"Oh." It was everything that came out from Charlie's mouth. She wasn't expecting that. 

"I didn't know why I freaked out so bad, but now I do." Zari went on. "I did a lot of thinking last night."

"Okay… Do you wanna talk about it?" 

"Yes, but first I need one of those donuts. Or two. I'm starving." 

Zari said, taking a chocolate glazed donut from the box she had placed between them. 

"You know, if we ever get in a serious fight — no matter how bad — I will be very happy to be bribed with donuts."

"I'll keep that in mind." Charlie joked back, a big smile on her face.  
She took a donut for herself, finally able to put something in her stomach. She felt better now. She was relieved and the fact that Zari had just implied a future with her filled her heart with hope. The things she had feared all night seemed so silly now.

"So the reason I freaked out is I'm terrified of losing you."  
Zari calmly said sooner than Charlie expected.

"I know the feeling." Charlie couldn't help saying. She had dreaded the same exact thing all night long. 

"What I'm trying to say is— Since my brother died ten years ago I've been terrified of losing the people I love. That is why I struggle to let people in. That is why I only have three close friends. But with you it's different. I let you in sooner than I would have ever imagined it possible. I started having feelings for you basically since we first met."

Zari paused and Charlie didn't say anything, cause she was too busy screaming internally. Was she imagining it or Zari had just implied she loved her? Maybe she misunderstood? Maybe she didn't mean to say she was actually one of the people she loved?

"These two weeks we've been together as girlfriends have been amazing. I've never been happier in my entire life, but there was also a hidden part of me that was afraid, constantly alert, waiting for something bad to happen, something that would destroy what we had and confirm to my dumb ass that whatever happiness I get will always be taken away from me."

Zari had to stop again to frantically wipe a tear off her cheek. Why was she crying? She hadn't planned that. 

"Hey—" Charlie whispered, laying her hand over Zari's and squeezing it lightly to comfort her. She knew she hadn't finished, so she just waited in silence for her to keep talking. She also knew how difficult must have been for her to be that vulnerable and she wanted to make her feel safe. 

"So what happened yesterday triggered me, but it was only a matter of time. I'm pretty sure whatever minor set back in our relationship would have triggered me sooner or later. I started to fear the worse. That you would be mad at me for overreacting and that you wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore, but clearly that's not the case or you wouldn't have brought me so many donuts."

She finished with a sound between a chuckle and a sob. Pouring her heart out was liberating. Scary, but liberating. It was all out there now. No matter how soon it was in their relationship, Charlie now knew how much she cared and Zari couldn't wait to find out if she felt the same way. 

"I won't let anything come between us, love." 

Was the first thing Charlie said, intertwining her fingers with Zari's. She felt the need to reassure her, to let her know how much she meant to her. 

"I want to keep being your girlfriend, no matter how many times we freak out or fight, cause — let's be honest — we're probably gonna fight a lot." 

"Yeah, we probably will." Zari giggled, unable to stop the tears that kept streaming down her cheeks. But they weren't sad tears. She was happy. She was happy Charlie was still there, that she hadn't ran away when she freaked out and almost ruined everything. 

"You quickly became a very important part of my life, Z. I have no intention of changing that any time soon, no matter what. As long as you want me, obviously."

"What if I want you forever?" Zari allowed herself to whisper, her heart felt like it was exploding.

"I wouldn't be surprised, I'm awesome." 

Charlie joked as she caressed Zari's cheek, brushing away her tears. 

"Idiot." 

Zari mumbled fondly as Charlie was already leaning toward her for a kiss.  
When their lips touched, Charlie shifted closer, forgetting about the box of donuts that was between them. Needless to say, they were all over the floor now. 

"Oh Beebo. I'm so sorry. I know how much you love them." 

"You're lucky I love you more than donuts." 

Zari whispered back on her lips, before widening her eyes at the realization of what had just come out of her mouth.  
She loved Charlie. She knew that. She's been knowing it for a while now, but she had agreed with herself it was too soon to actually tell her. Her mouth apparently didn't agree though, cause those words slipped out of it with such ease that it looked like she'd been waiting to let them out for a very long time.  
She stopped to breath, fearing Charlie would freak out. 

Charlie's heart skipped a beat. Did she hear correctly? Did Zari really just say those words?  
She had never been in love before. She didn't even know what it felt like, before meeting Zari.  
But since she met her, she had started to feel things, things she wasn't used to, things that only that word could properly describe.  
She knew what she felt for Zari was stronger than anything she'd ever felt for anybody else.  
For a while now, she had started wondering if what she felt wasn't love. And hearing Zari's beautiful voice saying those words gave her the answer. She was indeed completely in love with the girl who was now nervously staring at her, waiting for her reaction. 

"I–" Zari had started to say, ready to apologize for dropping that bomb that early in their relationship, but Charlie stopped her pressing her lips against hers.  
She kissed her with an intensity that alone was enough to convey the love she felt for her. 

"I love you too, Zari Tomaz." 

"Do you?" 

The girl mumbled on her lips, amazed to hear Charlie saying it back. She couldn't believe it was really happening. 

"I do." 

Charlie replied with a certain solemnity and a smile that made her eyes sparkle.  
Their lips met once again, both of their hearts filled with joy and love. They both knew now that — as long as their love was alive — nothing could ever ruin what they had. Their relationship would only grow stronger from now on. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are. I hope you enjoyed this last chapter as well!  
> Thank you so so so much for reading this far!  
> Follow me on Twitter at @lovingavalance if you're interested in me tweeting about TV shows, being gay, ships and why Zarlie should be endgame.
> 
> See you next time! Bye xx


End file.
